Katie-George Dunlevy and Linda Kelly won Ireland’s sixth medal of the Paralympic Games on Friday in Paris – coming home with silver, having sat on gold for over two and a half hours around Clichy-sous-Bois.
Dunlevy and pilot Kelly led for nearly all 99.4km of the women’s B road race in the suburbs of Paris, only to be overtaken by Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl in the final 400m after the British crew, who had tucked in behind the Irish tandem throughout, powered ahead in a sprint finish to win by three seconds.
It was a maddening tactical battle for the Irish tandem.
“It’s part of the game,” said Dunlevy. “But it is frustrating, yeah. They did the right thing, that’s what we would have done if they were the strongest bike and good climbers, we would have sat behind them, so it was up to us to try and get away – and we couldn’t.”
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The two bikes had pulled away from the rest of the pack midway through the race, but Dunlevy and Kelly couldn’t shake the British pair. And it quickly became evident the girls in green would have to do all the work out front.
“They told us,” said Dunlevy. “When they said they weren’t going to work, we were trying to figure out how we were going to get away from them, because we had to get away from them.
“They are better sprinters and if it came to a sprint finish we know they are probably going to beat us, so we tried to get away but we just couldn’t – that’s racing for you.
“They sat in behind and they are drafting and just not working as hard as you.”
Once they couldn’t burn off Unwin and Holl, there was almost a sense of inevitability about how the last few hundred metres would play out.
“We tried to just give our all on that last hill and I was hoping there was a gap that we could just keep, but they were just with us,” said Dunlevy.
“Round the corner then, they went by us and we were just done by then. There was nothing we could do at that stage. We just drove it to the line as best we could and got that silver.”
Unwin and Holl finished in 2:37.26, while Dunlevy and Kelly came home in 2:37.29. Third place was taken by another British pair, Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall, in a time of 2:39.01.
But while there was some disappointment in not retaining the road race title she’d won in Tokyo, there was clearly a sense of pride from Dunlevy in what she achieved during these, her fourth Paralympic Games – winning one gold and two silver medals.
She has brought home 50 per cent of Ireland’s medal total so far. She has now won a staggering eight Paralympic medals across Rio, Tokyo and Paris.
“I am hard on myself because I really wanted to win it, but on reflection, it is my eighth Paralympic medal and Linda’s second medal, her first road race medal,” said Dunlevy.
“I was jumping up and down the other day (after winning gold), and I am a bit disappointed now because I wanted to win so much, and I believe we are the strongest bike, so we should and could have won.”
Josephine Healion and Eve McCrystal also competed in Friday’s road race and were in the mix for third early on before falling back and ultimately finishing fourth in a time of 2:42.05. It was McCrystal’s last time competing in the Paralympics.
“One hundred and ten per cent,” smiled the 46-year-old. “It has been a hell of a journey, it has been 10 years, I have six Paralympic medals, I have given everything to the Paralympics. It will sink in eventually when I get home, 10 years is a long time, but I’m ready to go.”
But Dunlevy might not be. She’s 42 now, and it remains to be seen whether she will hang around for a fifth Paralympic Games in four years’ time. She intends to be in Zurich to ride with Kelly in the Para cycling road world championships later this month.
“I will carry on for the year,” she added. “But LA [2028]... I need to look at a few things, debrief and assess stuff, we’ll see. It’s a long commitment.”
But then few have shown such capacity for the long road as Katie-George Dunlevy.
