Martyn Irvine has announced his retirement from professional cycling.
The 30-year-old Down native will be best remembered for winning gold at the 2013 Track Cycling World Championships in Belarus in the 15km Scratch race. He also won silver at the same championships in the individual pursuit, following that up with a silver in the scratch race in Colombia the next year.
Irvine's three medals from those two championships count as half of Ireland's medal haul in the history of the Championships since 1893.
In a statement posted on his website, Irvine stated that "something has just happened to me over the last 1-2 years and I can’t really pin point it. Okay, I’ve had a few crashes that have left metal inside me but I came back from them. I mean, I won a European medal 6 months after breaking my hip! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that its [sic] a mental thing".
Throughout Irvine's career, he was also a medallist at the Commonwealth Games for Northern Ireland, and won medals for Ireland at the European Track Championships as well as the World Cup.
Although best known for his efforts on the track, Irvine had a successful road career. He was the two-time National Criterium Champion and finished second on three occasions at the National Time Trial Championships.
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