Martyn Irvine, the former scratch race world champion, has announced his retirement from international competition on Tuesday saying his career had come to "a natural end".
Irvine, 30, represented Ireland and won medals at European, Commonwealth and world championships, but said frustration led to him making the decision.
In February 2013, Irvine wrote his name into cycling history in Minsk, Belarus, when the Newtownards rider claimed Ireland's first medal at a Track Cycling World Championship since 1896 when he won silver in the individual pursuit at the Minsk-Arena Velodrome.
However, within an hour Irvine went one better when he held off Andreas Müller of Austria to win Ireland's first gold medal at the Track Cycling World Championships since Harry Reynolds won the 1896 World Mile Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Irvine, though, suffered a series of setbacks and has now decided "it just feels right" to retire.
"I'm retiring from international competition," Irvine said in a post on his website. "I was trying my best to not use the word 'retiring' but it's probably what's happening to me."
"It just feels like a natural end," Irvine added. "For the last year I've been racing and underperforming across the board.
"Frustration has been setting in all year and I'm sick of just turning up to bike races.
"I set my own bar by winning seven medals in a row. World championship, European, World Cup and Commonwealth Games medals all hang up in my house somewhere.
"At the time, every single one of them was taken for granted. I never appreciated how cool it was to be winning medals.
"Since then I've just stopped winning and stopped enjoying it."
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét