Top 10 for Irish Madison Pair at World Championships

Gillespie and Griffin claim top 10 while Bénézet Minns makes Senior World Championship debut.

Ireland was well represented on the penultimate day of the 2024 Tissot UCI Track World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark.

Individual Pursuit

Making her senior championship debut, but no stranger to wearing the green jersey, was Lucy Bénézet Minns in the Individual Pursuit.

Having won the Points Race at the UEC Junior European Championships in July, the 18-year-old made the jump to the senior ranks for this World Championships, and found herself in a star-studded field for her first crack at an Individual Pursuit.

Bénézet Minns achieved a solid 16^th place finish in the event, 20 seconds behind winner, and eight-time track world champion, Chloé Dygert riding for team USA. Dygert beat out another former World Champion in Great Britain’s Anna Morris in second, and Olympic medalist Bryony Botha of New Zealand in third.

Bénézet Minns recently represented Ireland at the 2024 UCI Road and Para-cycling World Championships last month. She also claimed a gold medal at the 2024 Junior Track European Championships in July when she won the Points Race. At the same championships she was sixth in the Omnium.

Madison

Olympic teammates Lara Gillespie and Mia Griffin teamed up for the Madison in this evening’s session.

This was Gillespie’s third event in as many days, and the only event Griffin is competing in at this World Championships.

The Madison sees teams of two take to the track in a mass rolling start. Each team must have just one rider racing at one time though with the riders performing a hand sling to throw their team-mate into the action for a lap or two while the other rests. The aim is to take more laps than your opponents by pushing out in front either on your own or with other teams to then get back to the rear of the leading main bunch. If you take a lap you gain 20 points on your rivals with riders who lose a lap getting a deduction of 20 points. 

Gillespie finished 11^th in the Madison event at the Paris 2024 Olympics with Alice Sharpe, so is no stranger to this level of competition.

Griffin and Gillespie managed to finish 7^th in what turned into an incredly exciting race. Battling for the full 30km, 120 lap race, the Irish pair saw several stints at the front amongst the action.

It ultimately turned into a four race, with Danish riders Julie Leth and Amalie Dideriksen taking the rainbow stripes in their home velodrome. French pairing Victoire Bertreau and Marion Borras took second, with Great Britain’s Neah Evans and Katie Archibald rounding out the podium, with Dutch riders Lisa van Belle and Marit Raaijmakers narrowly missing out on a medal.