Irvine’s Olympic Qualification Campaign Back on Track

Newtownards international track cyclist, Martyn Irvine reignited his hopes of qualifying for next year's Olympic omnium event in London with a fifth place finish in the second round of the UCI Track World Cup in Cali, Colombia.

Irvine got this year's winter track season off to a great start when he was fifth in the European Track Championships in October. The 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist then had a disastrous opening round of the World Cup in Kazakhstan when he was disqualified from the Elimination race which also ruled him out of the rest of the competition and dashed any hopes of gaining qualification points for London.

Irvine showed his resilience this week by being consistent throughout the six races that make up the new Olympic event to take fifth overall and valuable qualification points. Prior to the Cali round, Ireland was in eleventh spot in the men's omnium European table, with only the top eight countries from Europe making it to London, Irvine will need to maintain his strong form when the World Cup resumes in Beijing in January.

Patrick Withers (Admin Officer)