Jenny Holl and Sophie Unwin produced a fantastic effort to claim gold in the Women’s Tandem 3000m Individual Pursuit on a Super Sunday in Paris. The duo broke the World Record in qualifying with a time of 3:17.455, before lining up against against familiar foes in the final, Irish pairing Eve McCrystal and Katie-George Dunlevy.
The Irish raced into a lead of over a second in the first kilometre, but the endurance of Holl and Unwin would shine through, as they clawed back time hand over first to race into an unassailable lead in the closing stages, to claim their maiden Paralympic title.
With gold round their necks, a delighted Holl said:
“It’s incredible. I’ve got so many family here and my friends, and it’s so great for them to have come out. To have them here just means so much. We had the World Champs in Glasgow last year and I had them all there, so I knew what it was like to have them cheer in a crowd for me. That’s the edge we needed.
In his fifth Paralympics, Neil Fachie OBE and pilot Matt Rotherham claimed an excellent silver in the 1km Tandem B time trial, but were pipped at the post by Great Britain teammates James Ball and pilot Steffan Lloyd, a duo that delivered the goods after years of chasing Fachie.
Naturally disappointed, Fachie concluded:
“I just can’t seem to defend the Paralympic title! I’ve got an annoying ratio of gold, silver, gold, silver, which means maybe at 44 I’m going to have to come back and take the gold [in Los Angeles].
“I’m obviously disappointed. I did come for gold. With a lap and a half to go I could feel I was really struggling. I think I can walk away proud though. I know I couldn’t have done any more.”
On his future, he added:
“It’s not easy any more and I’m not getting any younger. I still don’t know. I don’t want to look at a bike for a month or two and then I’ll have to see what happens. I will miss this dearly if I do walk away.
“Maybe the Commonwealth Games will happen in Glasgow in a couple of years and maybe I’ll try and be the most successful Scot of all time. That’s still something on the cards, but there’s a lot of boxes to tick before then.”
Next up in Paris are the Time Trials on Wednesday, with both Holl and Fin Graham in action just after lunchtime.
UCI World Mountain Bike Championships
After silver in the Short Track, Charlie Aldridge produced another special ride as he came home fourth in the Elite Men’s XCO Championships, further confirmation that he is now one of the best MTB riders in the world.
After coming home eighth on Olympic debut in Paris, the Crieff rider has taken another step up this week in Andorra, with two special performances. A maiden Elite medal in the Short Track, proceeded by fourth in the blue ribband cross country event.
To the fore throughout, leading for portions, the prodigious talent, and last year’s U23 World Champion, would end up battling with teammate Tom Pidcock for the final medal. In the end the Olympic champion just had the measure of Aldridge, but he could be delighted with fourth place.
“I battled for the podium the whole race, but I’m still buzzing with fourth place, and couldn’t be happier with an amazing Worlds week.”
In the Elite Women’s race it was 36th for Isla Short, while Daisy Taylor was 43rd in the Junior Women’s.
The Downhill events also concluded on Saturday, with Louise-Anna Ferguson leading the Scottish charge coming home 15th in the Elite Women’s race, just six seconds off the win in a race of tight margins. In the Men’s equivalent, Greg Williamson produced a strong ride for 26th spot.
Scottish XC Champs
Comrie Croft hosted fitting edition of the Scottish XC Mountain Bike Championships, a tough, technical course pushing riders to the limit. Amongst the winners were Elena McGorum (Mighty Cycles) and Lewis Martin (Studio Velo), the latter of whom defended his title in some style
Read our full report of all the races here
School Games
The Scotland team set the standard on the first day of competition at the 2024 School Games in Loughborough, the Open Team Pursuit squad of Colin Johnston, Elliot Speedie, Fraser Corfield and Zach Barbour taking gold, getting the better of Yorkshire and the East Midlands.
The other standout result came in the Women’s Criterium, Melanie Rowe racing to a fine silver medal, backing it up with fifth in the Street Sprint.
The BMX competition took on a two day format that consisted of skills challenges, followed by racing at Derby Arena. Eilidh Watson led the Scottish charge in the Women’s Race event coming home in ninth place, just over a second off the podium.
Scots Abroad
On the continent, Ahron Dick produced another fine ride at the Vuelta a Cantabria, an elite Spanish junior race, coming home fourth on stage two, and currently lies fifth on GC.
In China, Saint Piran are contesting the Tour of Poyang Lake, which starts today, Finn Mason amongst their roster.