Lara Gillespie Finishes 13th Place In The Omnium At The Track European Championships

Lara Gillespie Finishes 13th Place In The Omnium At The Track European Championships 

Lara Gillespie has finished 13th in the women’s omnium at the UEC Track European Championships at Grenchen, Switzerland, on Friday, February 10th.   

Gillespie competed in four races across the third day of competition – a scratch race, tempo race, elimination race and points race. 

Gillespie started her day with a 13th place finish in the scratch race. She followed this up with a top 10 finish in the tempo race which moved her up to 12th place overall in the standings with two events still to go. 

Heading into the final race of the omnium, Gillespie sat on 52 points after a 15th place finish in the elimination race. The Irish rider rode well in the high-paced points race securing a point in the opening sprint but was unable to add anymore points and finished 13th overall. 

Conor Rowley kicked off the day for Ireland in the men’s sprint qualifying and his time of 10.091 saw him finish 17th and progress to the 1/16 finals in the afternoon.  

Rowley faced Dominik Topinka of Czech Republic in the 1/16 finals, but narrowly missed out in the match sprint finishing 0.013 behind Topinka.   

JB Murphy was also in action this evening competing in the scratch race. The 2021 European Bronze medallist put in a huge effort committing to an early attack which saw him come within a third of a lap of catching the back of the bunch. 

This sparked a reaction at the front of the bunch as riders upped the pace, eventually reeling him back in. As the race progressed and the pace quickened, many riders retired early from the race. Murphy was among eight non finishers. 

Day Four Schedule

It’s another busy day for Ireland on Saturday, February 11th, as Orla Walsh competes in the women’s 500m Time Trial qualifying. 

Erin Creighton will make her elite debut for Ireland to compete in the women’s individual pursuit who was drafted in to replace the injured Emily Kay. Experienced pursuit rider, Kelly Murphy will also compete in this event. 

JB Murphy is back in action tomorrow competing in the men’s omnium throughout the day, racing in the scratch and tempo races in the afternoon session followed by the elimination and points races in the evening session. 

Also in action in the evening session is Mia Griffin who will compete in the women’s points race. 

More information on results and the schedule is available here.