The Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman Award for August: Katie George Dunlevy and Linda Kelly (Cycling)
It was only last September that Katie-George Dunlevy had a chat with this parish after she and Linda Kelly were named our sportswomen of the month, their latest achievements as a pair at that stage Paralympic gold and silver and two more World Championship golds. As months go, it was half reasonable.
Back then, Dunlevy was uncertain about her longer term plans, whether she’d compete at LA 2028. She’s now 43 so she admitted that she’d have to give a future without cycling some thought. “I have to think about what I’m going to do when I’m retired because I’ve been in sport all my life, and you can’t do it forever,” she said.
After their performances at last month’s UCI Para-cycling World Championships in Belgium, Dunlevy would be forgiven for concluding that she can indeed do it forever.
RM Block
She and Kelly successfully defended both their Time Trial and Road Race titles, making it the fifth time that Dunlevy achieved the golden double, having done it twice with Eve McCrystal before completing a three-in-a-row with Kelly as her pilot.
She first medalled at the World Championships 11 years ago and has since amassed a mountain of honours. With four gold, six silver and three bronze medals, she is Ireland’s most successful Paralympic athlete of all time, her World Championship haul now up to 17 medals. Although that’s a rough estimate, even Dunlevy herself is losing count.
Their Time Trial gold was relatively stress-free, the duo coping admirably with testing windy conditions to beat their old rivals Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl of Britain by just over half a minute after the 23.2km trip through the city streets of Ronse.
The Road Race, though, produced no end of challenges, as Dunlevy detailed after. “We had a lot thrown at us with the slow puncture, the wheel change, the chain getting stuck,” she said, not to mention it being “pretty treacherous with the cobbles and the wet roads”.
With just two laps to go, that puncture left them 25 seconds adrift of Polish leaders Patrycja Kuter and Karolina Kolkowicz and looking like they’d have to settle for silver, at best. But? “Myself and Katie are fighters, we never drop heads no matter what,” said Kelly after. “We’re here to race and make the most of it, so we kept the heads. We hammered on, we never gave up. We got to the second hill, caught the Polish and time-trialled home.”
That they did, hunting the Poles down and winning the race by 21 seconds in the end, and finishing two minutes and 40 seconds ahead of bronze medallists Unwin and Holl.
“To be three-time double-double world champions is what we’ve been dreaming of and what we’ve been training for,” said Dunlevy who described the race as the toughest she and Kelly have had yet, their chain coming off three times, necessitating what could have proved to be costly stops.
The pair’s year’s work will be done after competing in a 50k Tour de France Sportif, after that Dunlevy will decide on her plans for next year ... and maybe beyond. August’s World Championships might have persuaded her that the tank isn’t empty just yet.
Previous monthly winners – December: Ellen Walshe (Swimming); January: Hazel Finn (Basketball); February: Lara Gillespie (Cycling); March: Kate O’Connor and Sarah Healy (Athletics); April: Aoife Wafer (Rugby); May: Katie McCabe (Soccer); June: Fiona Murtagh (Rowing); July: Katie Taylor (Boxing).
