Irish rider Felix English looking pensive at the European Track Championships in Berlin. He said he was happy with his result and that he is very focussed on getting to the Olympic Games.
Irish World Cup winner earlier this year, Felix English has finished 5th in the omnium at the European Track Championships.
Also in action in Berlin today; Lydia Gurley was 12th in the points race, JB Murphy 14th in the elimination race and Eoin Mullen was 23rd in the sprint.
In the omnium English was 4th in the event until the final of four races.
“I’m satisfied with fifth,” said English, “I went into the last race trying to get a medal.
“But fifth is much better than what I did last year, and I’m a lot more consistent.
“The guys who were ahead of me were the world champion, European champion, World Cup medallist and the junior road race champion.
English was 4th in both the scratch race and elimination. He began the points race 4th some four points off the bronze.
“It was a long day, and I was smart about not wasting too much energy, even in the warm up,” he said.
“We had a qualifier in the morning too for the first time – that’s five hard races in a day.
But he said he was especially happy with his elimination race.
“I was really pleased with my recovery in the race – I went to the front straight away, and it was really hard,” he said.
“I ended up at the back, but my legs came around in the race. I’m really pleased as that’s something I couldn’t do before.
“This year I fully committed myself to the track, with the omnium and the Madison in the Olympics in a few years’ time, I really want to focus on it.
“In the omnium, especially, you need to be racing all season to qualify. I went to Majorca in early August to train with my coach David (Muntaner).
The gold went to Albert Torres Barcelo (Spain) from Julius Johansen (Denmark) and Benjamin Thomas (France).
In her race Gurley had a strong go off the front and while she almost gained a lap she fell short.
“I was disappointed really, the breakaway effort with the Austrian was a real opportunity,” she said.
“But I positioned myself poorly on her wheel. So when she went up, it forced me up. It was a mistake that I will learn from and move on.
“It was a strange race. I was always with the strong riders, but none of those breakaways worked.
The points race was won by Dane Trine Schmidt from Gulnaz Badykova (Russia) and Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus).
Tomorrow Xeno Young rides the individual pursuit and Mark Downey takes on the points race.
Lydia Boylan rides the omnium while Robyn Stewart and Lydia Gurley ride the keirin and scratch race respectively.