Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal guaranteed medal in B 3,000m individual pursuit

Katie-George Dunlevy and pilot Eve McCrystal are guaranteed a medal today at the Paralympic Games in Paris after qualifying for the gold medal race of the women’s B 3,000m individual pursuit at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome.
The formidable duo, who have won five Paralympic medals together and are racing as a crew for the last time, produced one of their greatest performances to finish second in the qualifiers with a time of 3:20.481.
They will race Britain’s Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl in that gold medal race at 1.41pm Irish time. The British pair set a new world record in their 3:17.643 to finish as fastest qualifiers.
There was controversy in the last qualifier as the French team were disqualified after unclipping – much to the annoyance of the home crowd in the velodrome. There was huge emotion in the Ireland camp when it was confirmed they were in the gold medal race.
“I think we’re just shocked, we had a lot of pressure entering that race,” said Dunlevy, who has been unwell in recent days.
“We don’t have a lot of track time compared to the others, we knew we were against the three GB bikes there. I think we did the best ride of our lives, we actually did it, we can’t believe we are in that gold-silver ride off, we’re in shock.
“It’s great to have all our family here, Eve’s kids are here, my parents and cousins, we’re just over the moon. I know we have to fight for the gold now, we’re going to recover, but I’m just ecstatic.
“It was the most nervous she has ever been and I was very nervous as well. Eve is steering the bike and it just felt so smooth behind, she did amazingly, I’m so proud of us both.”
It was a good morning for Ireland in the Velodrome as Martin Gordon and pilot Eoin Mullen set a new Irish record of 1:01.158 in the qualifying round of the men’s B 1,000m time-trial. The previous record of 1:01.545 had been set by Gordon and pilot Eamonn Byrne at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Gordon and Mullen qualified a fifth fastest of the six qualifiers, completing their four laps at an average speed of 58 kilometres per hour. Germany’s Thomas Ulbricht and Robert Föerstemann topped the qualifying list with a time of 59.480 at an average speed of 60 kilometres per hour.
Damien Vereker and pilot Mitchell McLaughlin also competed in 1,000m time-trial but their time of 1:06.740 was not enough to make the final, which takes place at 12.51pm Irish time.