HOME AND AWAY/DAVID O'LOUGHLIN:FOUR MINUTES, 20.91 seconds for 4,000 metres; an average of 55.19 kilometres per hour. That's the personal best set by David O'Loughlin one year ago, and a time he must comfortably break tomorrow if he is to get a medal in the individual pursuit at the world track cycling championships in Poland.
The Mayo rider heads into the race knowing it is potentially the biggest day of his sporting career. He finished sixth in last year’s championships in Manchester, then in January and February he was third and second respectively in the same event at cycling’s World Cup events. The upward trend encourages him; more top riders will be at the worlds, but he’s on a confidence high and feels certain he can go quicker than ever before.
“Obviously I am aiming for a medal,” he told The Irish Times this week. “I think that is a realistic goal heading into it. In terms of time for the distance, a PB is what I am aiming for. At the moment it is 4.20 so I am looking for that or better.
“Things are heading in the right way; my form is building all the time. It is definitely better than it was in the World Cups. I was training on the track in Aigle recently and the times were good. It was encouraging.”
The individual pursuit is one of the toughest events in sport; one rider against another, both starting on opposites side of the velodrome, both trying to catch the other while aware that split seconds, a hair’s breadth, can decide the contest. Yet it’s all about the time, too, as only the top four riders go through to the finals for medals. The two quickest will fight it out tomorrow evening for gold and silver, while the second showdown will determine the bronze medal.
If O’Loughlin makes it into either final it will be a significant step forward for Irish cycling, elevating him to a level that no track rider here has reached in many, many years. Perhaps ever. Harry Reynolds won the one mile amateur world championship on Saturday, August 15th, 1896.
The distinction between amateur and professional does not exist any more, and so O’Loughlin is riding against the very best in the sport.
A multiple Irish road race and time trial champion, he competed for five years with the US pro teams Ofoto and Navigatos Insurance. But it’s since taking up track racing in September 2006 that he has really found his niche.
Unlike many other countries, Ireland has no indoor velodrome and so O’Loughlin has regularly had to go abroad to train and compete. Yet, despite that burden plus his late age in starting this wing of the sport, the Beijing Olympian made rapid progress.
Shortly after taking to the boards, he broke the long-standing Irish record set by Philip Collins back in 1996. He then rode the 2007 world track championships in Majorca, placing 17th there and then jumping up to sixth place one year later in Manchester.
And while he hasn’t gone close to the personal best time set there, finishing third and second in the last two World Cups in Beijing and Copenhagen are a big boost. His form is coming to a peak now and he’s feeling far more confident than he was at his first track championships.
“I remember that first worlds in Majorca,” he said. “I suppose I really didn’t know what I was doing, I was so new to it. I have learned a lot in the short space of time that I have been doing it.
“Being in the finals in the World Cups has helped a lot. Competing for medals and doing two rides a day . . . that is all important. It was definitely great to do that in preparation for the world championships, and I feel ready now.”
O’Loughlin finished second to Taylor Phinney in the Copenhagen World Cup and, given the scorching time the latter set there, expects the American to be the big favourite.
“I think that Jessie Sergent is fast, as are Jack Bobridge, Ed Clancy and Stephen Burke. There are a few guys there who are definitely capable of winning medals, but for me I think that Phinney is the clear favourite.
“That said, I believe that I am just as good as some of those guys there, if not better. So I don’t think there is any reason why I can’t get a medal if everything goes to plan.”
Future plans: One regret for him is that the team pursuit squad didn’t get through to the worlds. O’Loughlin, David McCann, Paul Healion and Martyn Irvine have been improving steadily, placing seventh and then fifth in the last two World Cups, but the squad didn’t get a world championship entry as Irish riders had not ridden enough World Cup races.
“We have a great squad there and I think there is a lot of potential for the future,” he said. “It is an awful shame [not to get a slot], but the programme will continue to run and the team will keep improving.”
After the track worlds, O’Loughlin plans to compete only on the road for the next six months. He’s now part of the Irish-registered An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Seán Kelly team and is looking forward to the season with them.
“I think it is a brilliant project, it is a huge opportunity for Irish cycling and Irish riders,” he enthused. “It has a good programme, is a well organised team and just having Seán there in the background is great. It is amazing seeing him around and how people are so in awe of him and how good he is.”
This year, O’Loughlin’s chief goals on the road will include the FBD Insurance Rás, the Tour of Ireland and the national championships, as well as big events abroad. Further ahead, he’s aiming to improve on both road and track and believes that individual and team pursuit medals are reachable in London 2012.
It’s of course too early to judge the chances of that. But, if he lands a medal tomorrow and the rate of improvement continues, there is every reason to be optimistic.
