How swapping cigarettes and alcohol for cycling led Ireland’s Orla Walsh to the track World Cup in just four years
- Cycling helped Orla Walsh change her bad habits and now she is aiming for Tokyo Olympics
- The 29-year-old is in Hong Kong for track World Cup series
Orla Walsh is still working hard to help Ireland’s pursuit team qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games, but the cyclist has already won her big battle before even reaching Tokyo.
The 29-year-old is in Hong Kong for the World Cup track series, one of six events this season that count towards Olympic qualification, as Cycling Ireland aims to send its first ever women’s pursuit team to the Games.
Only four years ago, Walsh was drinking heavily and smoking regularly in Dublin, spending her weekends being drunk and hung over. But things changed when she started commuting by bike to college and work.
“I didn’t exercise at all for all of my 20s,” Walsh said at the Tseung Kwan O Velodrome. “So, when I started commuting by bike into work, it was just like I fell in love with cycling and I just wanted to do more of it, so I exchanged going out drinking at the weekend with the local cycling club.”
Walsh only started training full-time three years ago aged 26, and later became a member of the Irish road race team. She was recruited for team pursuit in 2018 under a talent transfer programme as Cycling Ireland wanted to find female riders specifically for the track.