There was disappointment for Madison duo Mark Downey and Felix English as they failed to finish the 200-lap event in the velodrome this evening.
Downey and English looked at home in the bunch for much of the race, however they lost a lap mid-way through, resulting in a 20-point deduction. As with the women’s race, there were several crashes, with Poland and the USA both hitting the boards. Fortunately, Ireland avoided any such racing incidents.
As the pace accelerated into the final quarter, Ireland found themselves distanced off the back of a splintering bunch. A second lap loss meant they were pulled from the race and listed as a non-finisher (DNF) in 12th position alongside the USA, Canada, Australia, and Austria.
It took just 50 minutes to cover the 50-kilometre distance as teams averaged a blistering 59.690km/h in hot and humid conditions.
Pre-race favourites Michael Mørkøv and Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark claimed the gold medal scoring in 14 of the 20 intermediate sprints.
Speaking afterwards, English said: “That was one of the fastest, well, the fastest race we’ve ever done.
“We didn’t really know what to expect, but it was certainly a shock to the system once we got out there. When it was on, the speed was just phenomenal really. It’s stepped up another 10, 20 per cent from Worlds last year.
“It was a struggle. We fought as long as we could but ultimately, it wasn’t enough today.”
Downey, who finished 17th in the Olympic Omnium added: “It’s going to take a while to take the positives from it, but me and Felix have had a rough journey to get here, and we said we would give it our best out there today.
“Look, we have to be proud of the journey we have had, we can’t be disappointed, but just as athletes, we want to compete, we want to fight. We want to be there at the end but today, we weren’t, so back to the drawing board.”
Tomorrow is the last day of action from the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games and is set to be another busy one for Team Ireland.
First in action will be Kevin Seaward, Paul Pollock and Stephen Scullion as they set off in the men’s Marathon from 11pm Irish time this evening. Cyclist Emily Kay will tackle the Women’s Omnium from 2am Irish time, before Kellie Harrington boxes for gold in the Women’s Light (57-60kg) final, where she will face off against Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira.
The Closing Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games will wrap up this year’s Games at 12pm noon Irish time, with Modern Pentathlete, Natalya Coyle named as the flagbearer for Team Ireland for the event. The ceremony will close out what has been a successful Games for Team Ireland, with four medals already guaranteed going into the last 24 hours of competition.
