A ROLLERCOASTER DAY at the velodrome ended with Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal standing on the podium together for the final time.
The Last Dance complete, as one of the most iconic partnerships in Irish sport came to a close with a fairytale silver medal.
A sixth Paralympic honour after a whirlwind and glittering 10-year journey.
And a second medal for Ireland at these Games in Paris, after Róisin Ní Riain’s earlier silver in the pool.
Dunlevy and McCrystal’s was in the Women’s B 3000m Individual Pursuit — the feat repeated from Tokyo three years ago.
They will race on separate tandems on the road, but 46-year-old McCrystal is retiring after these Games.
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The last day of track cycling at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome was electric.
Noise. Colour. Heat.
Jesus, the heat.
The higher the temperature, the better the surface.
There’s more grip for rubber, and faster times will follow. The things you learn in a country with a velodrome. Although we must add, plans are in place for two back home.
Inside the track, preparations were in full flow. A fascinating look behind the scenes, as the Irish cyclists busily readied themselves on stationary bikes. Hearts racing, sweat pumping. Go time.
The DJ blared music, there was a lights show.
Sensory overload before the chaos even began.
Damien Vereker and Mitchell McLaughlin were the first of the Irish out in the Men’s B 1000m Time trial, swiftly followed by Martin Gordon and Eoin Mullen. “Four laps of pure torture,” Gordon said.
Two tandems start on opposite sides of the track with the same objective and tactics: go as fast as humanly possible.
The first Irish tandem’s time of 1:06.740 tumbled down the leaderboard, eventually to 10th overall. Gordon and Mullen flew out of the traps and ultimately advanced to the final in 1:01.158, breaking the national record.
Gordon set the previous mark (1:01.545) when he was fifth in a straight final at Tokyo 2020, piloted by Eamonn Byrne.
The 39-year-old Sligo man would go on to finish in the same position here alongside the powerful Mullen, competing at his first Games. They were marginally slower in the final, 1:01.520, with two Great Britain tandems on the podium and all three teams home in under a minute.
Gordon and Mullen revealed afterwards that they crashed here training last Monday. A freak accident involving another nation left Mullen with a shoulder setback and both needing medical attention.
“We didn’t know if we’d be here at all,” Gordon said.
It’s well documented now, but Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal had a similar scare in May when Dunlevy shattered her collarbone in a World Cup race in Italy.
She finished the race, but required surgery a week later and now has four pins and plate. McCrystal — pilot that day — knew she would make it back.
“The toughest person ever,” McCrystal says of her long-time partner. She also came through a virus last week and was feeling unwell this morning.
Never in doubt.
The iconic duo produced the ride of their lives in qualifying to guarantee a medal.
The velodrome erupted when Great Britain’s Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl broke the world record before them, clocking 3:17.643. In the same heat, Team GB passed Josephine Healion and Linda Kelly at the bell, but the Irish duo had their own reason to celebrate with a superb eight-second personal best of 3:22.390. They finished fifth overall.
Dunlevy and McCrystal raced supremely against another GB tandem thereafter, their 3:20.481 moving them second in line. A hectic few minutes followed. France were disqualified from the last heat to boos around the venue, and another fancied British pairing failed to best the Irish, so they secured a place in the gold medal race.
They celebrated as they cooled down on the stationary bikes, and emotions ran high thereafter. The dam burst. Tears flowed for McCrystal in a raw, powerful interview.
“I can retire now so fucking proud. I’m so emotional,” she said. (And much, much more.)
They would ultimatly settle for silver. Another stellar showing saw them lead for a fair stint, but Unwin and Holl turned it on from the 2500m mark to win in 3:19.149. Ireland’s time was 3:21.315.
Some disappointment. Mostly elation. A whirlwind of feelings.
After circling the velodrome with the tricolour and celebrating with their families — Dunlevy’s parents, Alana and John, cried, while McCrystal’s teenage daughters, Ava and Nessa, watched her win a medal for the first time — they spoke brilliantly to reporters once again.
Less emotion on this occasion, more reflection and insight.
“It’s really hard to get to the top and it’s fricking harder to stay there,” McCrystal, who has trained six days a week while working as a Garda, said.
“From when my kids were born, they have seen me training in the kitchen on turbo trainers. Every single day. For all of them to see all of our hard work, that resilience, that determination, for them to see that and a medal, I can’t put that into words.
“We are in our 40s, and we are up against 20-year-olds. Age is a number.”
“When it came to this, we just had to fight, and we are both just fighters,” four-time Paralympian Dunlevy added, showing the scar on her left collarbone at one point.
“We’ve gone through some really tough times together… you don’t really go through that with anyone else. We have a special bond we will have forever, those memories and special moments. No one else will know what that feels like except for me and Eve.”
“We’re like sisters, we fall in, we fall out,” McCrystal smiled. “We have a lot of respect for each other.”
Everyone else does too.
Healion and Kelly spoke glowingly of them, and the guidance they have offered. “The girls are just amazing,” Kelly told The 42. “They’re so experienced. To get that advice is so important — not many people have that available to them, we’re so lucky.”
Kelly will pilot Dunlevy from her on out, starting with the road at this Paralympics. McCrystal will team up with Healion before bowing out.
She first made the decision to step away from partnering Dunlevy on the road last year, and focused on the track. They didn’t really talk about it being their last race today, but they knew.
The Dundalk woman had publicly shared her retirement plans, and as this remarkable chapter comes to a close, is insistent it is “time for me to step back” as Kelly joins Dunlevy on a “gold medal bike”.
No pressure.
Dunlevy will always be an athlete in her head and hopes to give back to the programme in another capacity.
“Katie-George is going to go and do amazing things, herself and Linda, no doubt.”
The rollercoaster will continue on the road from Wednesday.
