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Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal raced together on the track one last time at the Paralympic Games, and they did it in style. They claimed the Silver Medal in the final of the Women’s B 3000m Individual Pursuit.

The Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome was filled with a range of emotions, both riders were emotional after their qualification race this morning. No-one could deny what getting into the race for Gold meant to the pair who having been riding together for the past ten years.

In the final they faced stiff competition from Sophie Unwin, piloted by Jenny Holl, for Great Britain, who set a new World Record of 3:17.643 in qualification.

The Team Ireland bike held a narrow lead for the opening stages of the race, with a strong Irish contingent in the crowd cheering them on. Ultimately, Unwin and Holl finished in 3:19.149, and Dunlevy and McCrystal in 3:21.315.

This medal marks the sixth Paralympic medal for Dunlevy and McCrystal.

Eve McCrystal reflected on the range of emotions they experienced throughout the day, “When you’re so close to Gold, you’re slightly disappointed you didn’t get it but we’re absolutely ecstatic with Silver. It goes beyond what we knew we could do it but we’re up against three British bikes.”

British riders filled third and fourth place as well.

“It lets a little bit of doubt creep it. Underneath it all we knew we could do it but you have to deliver it on the day. The staff that we have around us, I just want you to mention them. It’s such a small team but we’re treated so well. I just want to say thank you to every single one of them. Without them, we wouldn’t be here today with a medal around our necks.” she added.

Preparation has been far from ideal, McCrystal explained, “It’s very hard. We’re ten years together. It took us a few years to get to the top. It’s really hard to get to the top and it’s harder to stay there. You have so much pressure. I don’t think we ever felt external pressure from people, but it was external pressure that both of us felt to stay there. That’s just so hard to do as an athlete.

“When the two of you are together you constantly don’t want to let each other down so you’re fighting every single day – that’s the fight for the last three years coming out there in a medal. We’ve always just trusted each other. Even with the collarbone, I was like, ‘She’ll be back.’ That doesn’t faze me at all. Collarbone, whatever…”

Dunlevy echoed the same sentiments, “I didn’t want to use that as an excuse really, I was just focused on trying to recover from that, get training and get ready for this. I’ve had years of training behind me, it’s a matter of just getting the hours and the rehab in and I managed to. The collarbone is behind me now, even though it’s still sore at times and it reminds me that it’s still there.

“When it came to this we just had to fight, and we are both just fighters. We have trained damn hard to get here. We have put so much time into this to get here. We just have to really trust what we can do and the experience that we have, and just trust in ourselves and go for it. I always go, whatever will be, will be, as long as you just give your all.”

Talking about her injury and recovery, Dunlevy added, “I have four pins and a big plate. I could get them removed, but I don’t know. It happened end of May in a road race in Italy.

“At first when I did it, I was like, oh my goodness, I really didn’t know. But I just thought, it is the arm. I didn’t break my hip or my leg, I could still pedal with one arm. I just got on with it. It could have been worse. I am here in Paris racing. We finished our three races and we got a medal. I would never have thought that two months ago. I am beyond ecstatic.”

Immediately after the final lap, the pair reunited with their families. Dunlevy described the scenes, “My dad is crying his eyes out. It makes me very grateful to see my parents cry, I don’t see them cry very often.”

For McCrystal having her two daughters in the crowd meant a huge amount, they have been the hours she has put in and the sacrifices that have been made.

“From when my kids were born, they have seen me training in the kitchen in turbo trainers. Every single day. For all of them to see all of our hard work, that resilience, that determination, for them to see that and a medal, I can’t put that into words.”

Today’s result seemed something like a fairytale ending for the pair as McCrystal takes a step back.

“We know, like we know we have been together for so long and it is time for me to step back.”

“We don’t really talk about it as such more about working on the process and preparation to get here,” Dunlevy added.

Talking about the decision she made to step away from riding with Dunlevy on the road, McCrystal said, “I chose to step away from the road with Katie, so Katie moved to the road with Linda , I’d to go back full time working and Katie is a Gold medal bike on the road and for that commitment you need Gold medal. It’s a Gold medal bike going forward so I made the decision last year to step away so I can concentrate more on the track it is shorter and harder but she is going to go and do amazing things, herself and Linda no doubt.”

The pair have been on an incredible journey over the last ten years, McCrystal explained, “Six days a week every single week for a decade me and her have trained, we have never ever faltered or taken our foot off the gas we have committed every single day.”

“It’s taken a lot of commitment a lot of determination a lot of sacrifices it is a tough sport its full time you have to in the hours and we both have, when we get on the bike we know we have worked hard to get there and we back each other and we’re not going to let the other person down when it comes to the races we are both so competitive and we give our all. I know on that track Eve has given our all and i know on that track that Eve has given it all and she knows that I have.” Dunlevy added

McCrystal won’t struggle to fill her time as she moves away from cycling.

“I’m a full time Guard, I have two teenagers, two horses – work that out,” she laughed

“I will never not be an athlete in here (her head) and I will do other stuff and hopefully I can come back into the programme in another capacity and I can give back. Its lovely for me to see Linda and Katie on the bike because I can help Linda as a pilot. She is going to get gold and all of that is important to me.”

There is no doubting the bond between Dunlevy and McCrystal:

“We’re like sisters, we fall in we fall out. We have a lot of respect for each other,” said McCrystal.

Dunlevy added, “We have gone through some really tough times together, you don’t really go through that with anyone really else so we know each what we have gone through and what they are giving and mentally and emotionally what they have gone through.

“There are times when we have been training individually but we always come back together and we know we have been training hard at home. And we have a special bond we will have forever those memories and special moments, no one else will know what that feels like except for me and Eve.”

Men’s B 1000m Time Trial

Adding to the success of the day, Martin Gordon and Eoin Mullen finished fifth in the final of the Men’s B 1000m Time Trial.

Following a strong performance in qualifying, where they set a new national record of 1:01.158, they posted a time of 1:01.520 in the final to leave them in fifth place.

Victory went to James Ball, piloted by Steffan Lloyd, for Great Britain.

Speaking afterwards, Gordon said, “It’s just like the one that went this morning, it’s a clean a start, it’s four laps of the track, it’s an absolute all-out effort. The tactics are to go as fast as you can for four laps, keep it as tight as possible on the lines.

“Eoin was just saying the lines were tighter on that effort but it was marginally slower. Everyone got marginally slower this afternoon but to back up the national record this morning, two and half hours later to go three tenths of a second slower it’s backed up, it’s a good result. It shows massive effort on our part. We’re happy with it.

“We had a bad crash on Monday, we didn’t know if we would be here at all today. Our coaches, our physios, our doctors, our psychs, the mechanics, everyone who got us on that line today. Where we were on Monday I would have taken the hand off you for what we just did today. I am pleased, I am.”

On Monday the pair were involved in a freak accident that nearly derailed their Paralympic Games, “It was an unfortunate accident. One of the other nations’ tandems had a blowout in front of us. They came down, left us with nowhere to go. It was just one of those freak accidents on an open track. We had to go over the top of them. We came down.”

Although the pair walked away from the incident, they both need attention throughout the week.

Mullen explained how the Individual Pursuit gave them an opportunity to see how they were feeling after the crash, “Thursday, the Pursuit, that was like a trial to see if my shoulder could get through it. It held up, it wasn’t perfect, it was enough to get us through. Not to make excuses.”

Racing continues at the 2024 Paralympic Games on Wednesday, September 4th of the road cycling events starting with the Individual Time Trials for each category.