Track World Championships: Irvine ends 17th in Paris omnium

In 2013 Martyn Irvine became the first Irishman since 1897 to win a World Track Championships medal with silver in the individual pursuit

Martyn Irvine ended in a disappointing 17th place in the omnium class at the World Track Championships in Paris.

Lying 16th after the three disciplines to be held on day one, the Newtownards cyclist went on to take 14th in the 1km time trial and 18th in the Flying Lap.

The Northern Ireland man finished eighth in the points race to end the event with 70 points overall.

Young Colombian sprint sensation Fernando Gaviria won the class with 205 points, 15 ahead of Glenn O'Shea.

Irvine was 20th out of 21 riders in the opening scratch race on Friday and his ninth in the individual pursuit left him in 15th position.

He followed that up with a 15th place in the final event of the day, the elimination race.

Gaviria exploded onto the cycling scene last month by twice beating 2012 world road race champion Mark Cavendish in sprint finishes at the Tour of San Juan.

Irvine suffered a chastening experience in the opening scratch element as he was passed by all but one of the other 20 competitors with three laps to go after he and Hong Kong rider Chun Wing Leung had broken clear with nine laps to go.

The Newtownards man then produced a personal best time of 4:26.814 to take ninth in the individual pursuit but that only moved him up to 15th overall.

Irvine finished 10th in the individual scratch race on Thursday.

The world championship offered an opportunity to earn vital qualifying points for the Rio Olympics.

Irvine made it to the championships despite breaking his collarbone at the first World Cup of the season in Mexico in November.

Irvine won a bronze medal in the omnium event at last year's European Championships in the Netherlands.

Two years ago in Minsk, he became world champion in the scratch race and 12 months ago he took silver in the event.