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Glory for IBS Athletes at Paralympic World Cup

May 2008

Irish Blind Sports Paralympic sprinter Jason Smyth, from Eglinton in Northern Ireland, broke his own 100m world record in his first competitive start of the season on May 11th, recording a time of 10.85 seconds.

Twenty year old Jason was competing in the IPC World Cup tournament in Manchester, England last weekend, in preparation for Beijing 2008 in September, where he will be competing in the 100m and 200m events.

Coach Stephen Maguire, was very pleased with Jason’s performance: “he is in very good shape, injury free at the moment, so an exciting summer is in prospect”.

In the velodrome, Irish records tumbled. The best results for the eight strong Irish cycling team came in the women's tandem 3km pursuit final (blind and visually impaired category) where Catherine Walsh and pilot rider Joanna Hickey took bronze; defeating their Chinese counterparts in the ride off. Earlier, in qualification the pair had set a new Irish record at the distance of 3:56.146. They also set a new Irish record in the 1km time trial on Thursday taking 4th overall in 1:18.5.

Men's tandem pairing (blind and visually impaired category) of Michael Delaney and pilot rider David Peelo had a sixth place finish in their 1km time trial, and followed up with a seventh place finish in the match sprint competition. Ireland's second male tandem pairing of Andrew Fitzgerald and pilot rider John Lynch placed 9th in the 1km time trial in a personal best time, and also placed tenth in the match sprint competition. The Irish team move onto Wales to take part in the Paralympic Grand Prix in Newport.