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National Track Coach Dan Henchy believes that Ireland is growing in confidence after breaking the women’s team pursuit national record for the third time this month.

The team of Mia Griffin, Lara Gillespie, Alice Sharpe, and Kelly Murphy smashed their national record in the event this morning at the UCI Tissot Track Nations Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.

It comes less than 24 hours after the same quartet put over two seconds into their previous best on Thursday, with the previous record set two weeks earlier at the UEC European Championships on February 9th.  

The forward strides have seen Ireland close the gap with some of the world’s top nations on the track as they secured a 5th place finish in Jakarta to underline a 5th place finish at the UEC European Championships.

Friday’s time of 4.16.877 in the first round bettered a blistering qualifying ride that saw them take over two seconds off the national record on Thursday with a time of 4.17.525 at the Jakarta International Velodrome.

The women’s team pursuit programme has enjoyed steady progress over recent years and the strong results in 2023 coincide with the beginning of Qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

National Track Coach Dan Henchy was satisfied with the team’s performances as they hit the ground running in qualifying as he noted the unit is continually learning and confidence grows with every outing.

Henchy said, “It was important for the women’s team pursuit to start Olympic qualification strongly and 5th place at UEC European Championships was a solid result. The first round of the UCI Tissot Track Nations Cup series in Jakarta was a quick turnaround, so to take a decent chunk of time off the national record and bag another 5th place is just the start we were planning for.

“There’s still a lot of work to do over the next year to secure a spot in the Paris Games but the gap to the top nations is closing and we’re learning a lot and growing in confidence with every ride.”