Kilkenny pride as Mia Griffin and Team Ireland smash record at Olympics

A new national record and a place on the world stage - Kilkenny’s Mia Griffin could look back with pride as the Irish cycling took another big step forward.

“We’re a small country who punch above our weight, but we put on a display we can be proud of,” the Glenmore native said after Ireland’s women’s team pursuiters made their Olympic debut in Paris.

While Ireland didn’t qualify from today’s round, their performance came with a silver lining. They smashed their national record, taking three seconds off their previous best.

The team of Griffin, Alice Sharpe, Lara Gillespie and Kelly Murphy went second in the 10-nation competition, following Japan on to the track at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome.

The Irish quartet delivered a great performance, finishing the 4km in a time of 4:12:447 to beat their previous best of 4:15.697 which they set at the UCI Nations Cup in Hong Kong.

While they were narrowly pipped for the last spot by Canada, Griffin was delighted with how the team performed.

“We can be really happy with that,” she said, speaking to RTÉ. “We left everything out there on the track and put on a performance.”