On the track which has previously seen Orwell members Aideen Collard and Stephen McNally win medals at the World Masters Championships, Lara Gillespie has today won bronze in the Individual Pursuit at the UCI Junior Track World Championships in Frankfurt, Germany.

The Scott Orwell Wheeler teenager set a new Junior National Record of 2:20:438 during qualification, averaging 51.268kpm for the 2000m time trial. Lara went up against Marii Milaeva of Russia in the race for bronze. She trailed by almost half a second at the halfway mark but measured her effort perfectly and ultimately claimed Ireland’s first medal at a Junior Track World Championships.

“I’m so happy, I can’t believe it. The last few laps were pretty hard, they were pretty brutal but I worked so hard for this all year so I’m really happy”.

Earlier this season she took silver medals in the individual pursuit, scratch race, and points race in the Junior European Championships.

POST RACE INTERVIEW: HERE

FINAL RESULTS: HERE

(Thanks to Cycling Ireland)