CANADA FINISHES PAN AM TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS WITH 7 MEDALS

Aguascalientes, Mexico (September 3, 2018) – Team Canada added a silver and a bronze medal to their tally on Sunday, the final day of the Pan American Track Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico. In the women’s Keirin, Lauriane Genest won silver and Amelia Walsh bronze, to bring Canada’s five day medal total to seven – two gold, two silver and three bronze. The team also set four Canadian records during the event.

“Being behind the Colombian was perfect so I could try to surprise her,” said Genest, “but I hesitated for a split second on the last lap and I wasn’t able to get around her. This result gives me a lot of confidence – I was getting tired of fourth!”

In other results, Vince de Haitre was fourth in the men’s 1000 metre time trial, setting a new Canadian record of one minute and 0.193 seconds, and Maggie Coles-Lyster was fourth in the women’s Points Race. The other Canadian records were set in the women’s and men’s 200 metre time trial and the women’s 500 metre time trial.

“Our results here in Aguascalientes help set us up for the World Cup season,” said Kris Westwood, High Performance Director at Cycling Canada. “Hugo [Barrette] in particular really needed a strong kickoff to Olympic qualifying, and he delivered [two gold medals].  We also saw four new Canadian records, which shows our athletes are progressing, and it was great to give some of our development athletes a shot at this level. I really want to thank our staff for stepping up in the wake of Stefan’s [Ritter] crash. He’s flying back to Edmonton on Tuesday and we’re hopeful he will recover quickly.”