Disappointment for Grimes as he narrowly misses out on medal race
Men's Paralympic On Photo Quentin Games Of Qualifying Pursuit En The Paris 2024 After C4 Harry At Of Grimes By Saint Ireland Yvelines Ronan The 4000m Individual De Murphy/sportsfile Day Three Vélodrome
In pursuit track cycling, fifth carries the same awful feeling that accompanies fourth in almost every other sport. In pursuit track cycling, fifth is the last place you want to be.
Ronan Grimes went into Saturday morning’s C4 4,000m individual pursuit qualifying round encouraged by his national record in Friday’s 1,000m time trial. As he said himself after that effort, “I know the power is there”.
The power certainly was there around 11.30am on Saturday morning. Part of the third pairing out on the velodrome track at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, 35-year-old Grimes clocked a 4.28.859 national record to position him first of the six riders to have pedaled, with six more still to wheel.
Grimes had slipped to third, but still in line for involvement in the bronze medal race, when the last pairing of the 12 cyclists waited for their green light. And even if one of Archie Atkinson and Jozef Metelka bettered Grimes’ time, he would still hold onto his place in the bronze medal race scheduled for later today.
But in the cruelest of outcomes, both the Brit and Slovak went quicker. Atkinson went so far as to post a world record 4:17.700 time.
Demoted from third to fifth, Grimes stood one lonely place outside of a medal race.
His attention will now shift to the road. He goes again in Wednesday’s C4 individual time trial.
Elsewhere on a busy third morning for the Irish in the French capital, Shauna Bocquet finished eighth in Ireland’s first athletics final of these Games. Having qualified ninth for the T54 5,000m final, the 20-year-old moved herself one place up the pecking order when crossing eighth in a time of 11:50.85. The race was won by Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner in a Paralympic record of 10:43.62.
There was no joy for fellow Galway woman Katie O’Brien, and her boat companion Tiarnán O’Donnell, as they finished fourth and out of the final qualifying spots in the repechage of the PR2 Mixed Double Sculls.
Their time of 8:40.85 was 10 seconds off the second-placed Ukraine boat that took the last lane of Sunday’s A final. Ireland go in the B final at 9.10am tomorrow.
Their potential was not recognised in Paris. Injury made sure of that.
“I probably spent about 90% of the year out of the boat. I’ve had three or four injuries, surgeries, illnesses… it’s been just one thing after another,” said O’Brien.
“We were down to one session a day. We had a two-week camp and a few days in Cork before we left, so probably something like 20-odd days together.”
O’Donnell, who only sat into a boat for the first time last year having switched focus from basketball where he captained the Irish U23 Wheelchair Basketball team to European bronze last September, is hopeful himself and Katie will stay together and build into the next Paralympic cycle.
“If Katie wants to, I’m game,” he said of them driving on for LA in 2028. “I’ve got the bug. My ceiling is just so high. If I can get up to Katie’s standard, we could be world beaters.”
Earlier at the velodrome, Richael Timothy was down in 10th at the end of the C1-3 500m time trial qualifying. Her 41.937 clocking was two and a half seconds outside of the Brazilian cyclist that claimed the sixth and final qualifying berth.
Greta Streimikyte is the sole Irish athlete in action this evening. Her T13 1,500m final is in the diary for 6.13pm.