Emily Kay has finished 9th in the Women’s Omnium at the European Championships in Munich. The sole Irish cyclist competing today, Kay finished the four-race event with a total of 113 points.
Rachele Barbieri (Italy) took the gold medal ahead Clara Copponi (France), with Daria Pikulik (Poland) rounding off the podium, winning bronze.
Another top 10 finish for Emily Kay at the European Championships in Munich 🙌
👉9th in the Omnium
Read more 👇https://t.co/BBxjLuNohZ pic.twitter.com/7JEDIwoa54— Cycling Ireland (@CyclingIreland) August 15, 2022
In the scratch race, Kay rode strongly and positioned herself well in the closing laps to finish in 3rd place. After competing in the scratch race earlier in the competition where she also placed 9th, Kay knew what she needed to do in the omnium scratch race to produce a good result and was able to execute it.
In the tempo race, Kay picked up a sprint point, finishing in 7th place. In the third race of the day, the elimination race, Kay gained 24 points putting her in joint 6th place on 88 points going into the points race. Kay started the points race strongly picking up 2 points in the opening sprint and was successful in her efforts to gain a lap mid-way through the race and was awarded 20 points before a crash put a halt to the race. After some 40 minutes the race continued and Kay picked up further points in the first two sprints, crossing the line in 5th place, with the total number of points gained resulting in a 9th place final position.
Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Commenting after the race Emily Kay said;
“It was a tough day but 9th in Europe in the Omnium isn’t too bad and it’s a pretty world class field so yah I was amongst it which I’m happy with.
“I think the break helped me really, I took the lap which was pretty tough and then I was struggling a bit so the break just allowed me kind of reset and then I scored in the next two sprints, so I put myself in the bike race off the back of that so I’m happy.”
Speaking about her overall achievements at the European Championships, Kay added:
“I stepped out of the team pursuit to ride the scratch race but it’s great now that we have got five girls to be able to do that and to be able to share events. The scratch race was good learning for the Omnium and I’m happy with 9th in the Olympic event.”
Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
SQUAD UPDATE:
Following some recent crashes, the team have decided to rest Alice from the Madison, so she has time to recover for the road race on Sunday, 21st August. Lara Gillespie will step in to race with Mia Griffin tomorrow.
RESULTS: MONDAY, 15 AUGUST
Track
Emily Kay Omnium – 9th
(Scratch race: 3rd, Tempo race: 7th Elimination race: 9th Points race: 5th)
