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Friday 18th of October, marks the halfway stage of the five-day championships. Today’s result follows on from Gillespie’s fifth place finish in the Elimination Race yesterday evening.

The Omnium consists of four separate races, all taking place on the same today – the Scratch Race, the Tempo Race, the Elimination Race and the Points Race. There are points available for each race and the rider who finishes with the most points wins. Both the Tempo Race and the Points Race offer multiple opportunities for riders to score points throughout the race.

Gillespie, who finished ninth in this event at last years World Championship, was looking to improve on this performance and build on her recent form. She faced tough competition as 24 riders took to the track. Included in the field was Ally Wollaston for New Zealand who won the Elimination Race last night, reigning World Champion and Olympic Champion Jennifer Valente for the USA and Amalie Dideriksen for the home nation, who finished second last year.

In the opening race, the Scratch race, Gillespie finished sixth. In the Tempo Race Gillespie was tenth, leaving her well positioned ahead of the final two races. Gillespie remained the top ten after an eighth place finish in the Elimination Race. A crash at the midway stage of the race saw it neutralised for a couple of laps before racing resumed.

Heading into the final race of four, Gillespie was in sixth place overall. Wollaston sat at the top of the leaderboard alongside Anita Stenberg of Norway, both on 104 points.
The Points Race consists of 80 laps, with intermediate sprints offering points every ten laps and 20 points on offer for a lap gain.

Jessica Roberts for Great Britain was the first rider to achieve a lap gain putting her at the top of the leaderboard with just over 30 laps to go. With 33 laps to go, Gillespie made her move closely marked by Victoire Berteau for France, before being naturalised by Valente. Gillespie continued on the attack, winning 5 points in the next intermediate sprint.

Gillespie remained closely marked throughout the race. The final laps became very tense, with a crash with just four laps to go and riders all keen to try and secure some of the double points that were on offer for the final sprint. In the end it was Wollaston who secured her second rainbow jersey in as many days. Roberts finished second and Stenberg completed the podium.

Speaking to Cycling Ireland afterward, Gillespie said, “I can be happy with how I raced today because I really suffered a lot, my body was not so happy today but I fought on. I enjoyed the race, I was aggressive at some times but also I had to be conservative with the feeling that my legs and my body had today.

“It’s a consistent performance but I really had hoped for more. I am disappointed but I am very excited for the next few days of racing and I am very grateful for all the support that Cycling Ireland gave me today because they got me through a rough day mentally. I’m looking forward to improving on this result.”

Although today’s result may not have been what Gillespie had hoped for it shows great consistency as she continues to hold her own among some of the best cyclists in the world. She narrowly missed out on a medal at the UEC Track European Championships in January when she finished fourth in the Omnium. On her Olympic debut this summer she finished tenth in the same event in Paris and in preparation for these championships she won the Omnium at the 3 Jours d’Aigle in Switzerland in late September.

Tomorrow, Saturday 19th of October, will see Lucy Bénézet Minns will make her senior debut racing in the Individual Pursuit at 13:48 Irish time. At 18:10 Gillespie will join forces with her Olympic teammate Mia Griffin to race in the Madison.

Gillespie will race again on Sunday. She competes in the Points Race, another race she’s demonstrated great form in in recent months.