News – Page 37 – Cycling Canada Cyclisme

KELSEY MITCHELL WINS CANADA’S SECOND-EVER GOLD MEDAL IN THE WOMEN’S SPRINT

TOKYO (August 8, 2021) – In an unbelievable finish to her first Olympic Games, Kelsey Mitchell won Canada’s 24^th medal and second-ever gold medal in the women’s Sprint on the final day of track competitions.

After going head-to-head in the quarterfinals with teammate Lauriane Genest—who won a bronze medal in the women’s Keirin earlier in the week—Mitchell advanced to the semi-final round to face World Champion, Emma Hinze, of Germany. Mitchell would go on to win the first race of three before being defeated in the second only to win the third. The Canadian advanced to the gold medal final to overtake Ukraine’s Olena Starikova, winning the first two races and becoming the Olympic Champion.

“I really, really wanted to get it done in two, and I got it done in two, which is a really rare since I usually end up going to three,” said Mitchell describing her gold medal final. “Canada’s a threat, and I think we proved that here. We’re strong and we’re some of the best in the world.”

Mitchell’s medal marks the first cycling gold medal since Lori-Ann Muenzer won the event at the Athens Games in 2004. The Olympic Champion took up the sport in 2017 through the RBC Training Ground program and quickly rose through the ranks, eventually winning the 2019 Pan American Games and becoming a World Record holder in her pursuit to making the Tokyo 2020 Olympic team.

Allison Beveridge and Lauriane Genest also completed their final day of racing at the Izu Velodrome, with Genest taking 8^th in the women’s Sprint 5-8 finals. Meanwhile, Beveridge was back on the track after breaking the Canadian record in the women’s Team Pursuit to race in the Omnium where she finished in ninth with 78 points.

August 8, 2021/by Communications

LAURIANE GENEST WINS CANADA’S FIRST EVER MEDAL IN THE KEIRIN

TOKYO (August 5, 2021) – Lauriane Genest and Kelsey Mitchell had a spectacular Olympic debut, securing their place in the Keirin final after breezing through three heats over two days of racing. Genest was physically and tactically strong in the final, sprinting to third place in the last lap to secure a bronze medal for Canada.

“I’m pretty stoked,” said Genest. “I’m just very happy with the outcome and I don’t quite realize it yet. In the moment when I crossed the finish line, I didn’t really know what I had done. It’s a life accomplishment honestly, we work so hard every day, we train so hard and it’s dedication and it’s amazing to see that work pay off.”

Genest and Mitchell kicked off the event yesterday by winning their respective heats in the 1/16 finals. They went on to compete in the ¼ finals, where Mitchell won her heat and Genest finished in the top-4 to secure her place in the next round. Competing in the same semi-final race, both women managed to finish in the top-3 and made their way to the finals against a stacked international field.

In the end, the Canadian women raced strong, with Mitchell fading in the last lap and being passed by eventual gold medallist Shanne Braspennincx of the Netherlands, followed by Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand and Genest in third. Mitchell finished the event in 5^th place.

Both Mitchell and Genest will have another shot at the podium in the women’s Sprint event which starts tomorrow. All rounds can be streamed live on CBC Olympics.

August 5, 2021/by Communications

HISTORIC FINISH FOR CANADIAN MEN’S TEAM PURSUIT

TOKYO (August 4, 2021) – After setting a new Canadian record in Round 1 of the men’s Team Pursuit on Tuesday, Vincent De Haître, Jay Lamoureux, Michael Foley and Derek Gee bettered their record in the 5-6 final clocking in at 3:46.324. Their time would edge out the German team for fifth spot and be the best performance for Canadian men in the event in 89 years.

“Yesterday we were super happy with our time and we didn’t think we had any chance of surpassing it again,” said Foley. “We were just focused on winning the ride but the best way to do that was to go as fast as we could, so we just went after it again. We were cracking hard at the end but we brought it around and just to see the time was even better was crazy.”

Sprint competitions also kicked off with Lauriane Genest and Kelsey Mitchell making their Games debut in the women’s Keirin. The duo won their respective heats and automatically advanced to tomorrow’s quarterfinals, with semis and finals also taking place on the same day.

“We’ve trained so hard, for so long and we tried to simulate racing to the best of our abilities, but nothing comes close to this in the Olympics. Adrenaline is a magical thing and I’m just so happy with how the race went,” said Mitchell.

In the men’s Sprint, Wammes posted the best Canadian time in qualifying and set a new personal best of 9.587, while Hugo Barrette posted a time of 9.596 seconds. They both advanced to the 1/32 finals, where Nick Wammes beat former world champion, Stefan Boetticher, to advance to the 1/16 rounds. Both men did not advance to the 1/8 finals.

Racing resumes tomorrow with Genest and Mitchell both competing in the women’s Keirin quarterfinals. All competitions can be streamed live on CBC Olympics.

August 4, 2021/by Communications

CANADA SETS TWO NEW NATIONAL RECORDS ON SECOND DAY OF TRACK CYCLING COMPETITIONS

TOKYO (August 3, 2021) – The women’s and men’s Team Pursuit squads made a comeback on the second day of track competition. Both teams set personal best times and smashed their respective Canadian records. After a difficult start for the women’s team during yesterday’s qualification round, the quartet came back with a renewed sense of focus in Round 1 against France with a time of 4:09.249, a new Canadian record.

On top of beating their opponents, the team of Allison Beveridge, Georgia Simmerling, Ariane Bonhomme and Annie Foreman-Mackey set a personal best time and moved on to the bronze medal round against the USA. The race was neck-in-neck for the first 3000 metres, with Canada ultimately finishing 4^th.

“To be able to come back from qualifying in last to riding for a bronze medal was pretty special,” said Bonhomme. “For me, having the chance to step up and show what I knew I could do was amazing. A few years ago, we said that we wanted to ride a 4:09 at the Olympics and to be honest, after the qualifying run I didn’t know if we could do it. To be able to regroup after a bad performance and to go out there and do the time that we set out to do, it’s very special.”

On the men’s side, the team of Vincent De Haître, Derek Gee, Michael Foley and Jay Lamoureux initially qualified in 6^th clocking in only a few hundredths of a second off the Rio 2016 Olympic record. They faced Germany in Round 1, where they shaved almost 4 seconds off their previous time to finish in national record time of 3:46.769.

“We knew it was going to be close with the German team just because of qualifying,” said Gee. “We have a really unique strategy with Vince just doing one long pull to start, so we knew with what he’s capable of doing in the Kilo that we could get a little bit up on them and the boys held it together really nicely.”

Tomorrow, the men’s team will tackle the 5-6 Team Pursuit finals while sprinters Hugo Barrette, Nick Wammes, Lauriane Genest and Kelsey Mitchell will be making their debut in the men’s Sprint and women’s Keirin events. All competitions can be streamed on CBC Olympics.

August 3, 2021/by Communications

DREW MECHIELSEN 8TH IN BMX RACING FINALS

TOKYO (July 30, 2021) – Drew Mechielsen and James Palmer both made their Olympic debut on July 29-30 at the Ariake Urban Sports Park in Tokyo, where Mechielsen qualified for both the women’s BMX Racing semi-final and final rounds. She eventually crossed the finish line in 8^thplace, obtaining Canada’s second-best result in the women’s field since the event was introduced at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Drew finished among the top-5 in her three quarterfinal heats, earning her a spot in the semi-final round on Friday. Despite several crashes in the semi-finals, she remained unscathed and placed 3^rd, 7^th and 4^th to advance to the final round, where she ultimately finished 8^th.

“I am feeling really incredible,” said Mechielsen immediately after her race. “I would have liked to have a little bit of a better run in that last round but to make it to the finals was surreal. I’m happy with how I rode, obviously you want to win everything but my riding was the best that it could have been and that was my goal coming here.”

James Palmer unfortunately did not advance past the quarterfinal round despite finishing 4^th in his last heat on Thursday.

“I struggled with the track out there and it took me a couple of laps to get going and fortunately I was able to put down a solid one in the last round but at that point I was a little too far out of the running to qualify for through,” said Palmer. “I’m happy with how I put everything into it, that’s something I can take away from this and be proud of.”

Canadian cycling events are on a two-day hiatus and will resume at the Izu Velodrome from August 2-8, showcasing both endurance and sprint competitions. All events can be streamed on CBC Olympics.

July 30, 2021/by Communications

TEAM CANADA WRAPS UP ROAD RACES IN TOKYO WITH THREE TOP-15 PERFORMANCES

TOKYO (July 28, 2021) – Canada’s road cycling squad concluded its final day of racing on Wednesday at the Fuji International Speedway with the Individual Time Trial for both women and men. While part of the road team flew out following the road races, Leah Kirchmann, Karol-Ann Canuel and Hugo Houle stayed behind to give the Olympic podium one last shot.

Two-time Team Time Trial world champion Canuel kicked off the women’s 22.1-kilometer time trial, followed closely by three-time national ITT champion Kirchmann. Both women clocked a time of 33 minutes, with Kirchmann finishing in 12^th with a time of 33:01.64, while Canuel crossed the finish line in 33:07.97, earning her a 14^th place.

“I wanted to see how well I could prepare for this time trial and how I could execute on the day,” said Kirchmann. “I’m really happy with my effort, I think I rode technically really well, and I could take the corners and the technical parts of the course quite fast. I could mostly stick to the pacing plan that I wanted and really push to get the most out of myself. I wasn’t thinking about the end result, I really just wanted to execute my best race so overall I’m happy with how the day went.”

Houle was the last Canadian to compete, completing the 44.2-kilometer course in a time of 57:56.46 which kept him in the hot seat for well over 30 minutes. He eventually finished 13^th, less than three minutes down gold medallist Promoz Roglic of Slovenia.

“It was a good day; I started with a good pace and went really fast on the first lap, but I was surprised by the heat and struggled a bit in the second one,” said Houle. “When I crossed the line I was first of my wave which is pretty good because there were some strong guys. I was saying this morning if I can beat top-15 that would be awesome so I’m really happy with my ride.”

Tomorrow, cycling heads over to the Ariake Urban Sports Park for the BMX Racing quarterfinals where first-time Olympians James Palmer and Drew Mechielsen will be looking to qualify for the semi-finals. The event can be streamed on CBC Olympics.

July 28, 2021/by Communications

PENDREL FINISHES 18TH AT HER FOURTH AND FINAL OLYMPIC GAMES

TOKYO (July 27, 2021) – Three of the country’s top mountain bike stars competed at the Izu Mountain Bike course on July 26-27 on what was argued to be one of the toughest and most technical courses in the event’s history. Catharine Pendrel was Canada’s top finisher, crossing the line in 18^th place at her fourth and final Olympic Games.

The women’s race was shortened from six laps to five and included several course modifications due to the large amounts of rain that fell prior to the start. Pendrel, a Rio 2016 bronze medallist and two-time world champion, proved that she is still a force to be reckoned with as she made her way from 27^th to 18^th place in less than one hour and a half of racing.

“My race was good,” said Pendrel. “I wish I had made some different line choices on the first lap because I got too far back, but I rode steady and I was typically able to pick off a position per lap. I think I rode where my form is from what I’ve seen at world cups. I was hoping to find a little extra magic today but I rode where I am, so I have to be proud of that.”

Pendrel was joined by Haley Smith who capped off her Olympic schedule at her first Games with a 29^th position after being pulled from the last lap.

On the men’s side, Canada’s sole competitor Peter Disera had a strong start, but faded in the last half of the race to finish 26^th.

Tonight, women’s road racing will wrap up with two-time Olympians, Karol-Ann Canuel and Leah Kirchmann in the Individual Time Trial, starting at 11:30pm ET. Then, Hugo Houle will take on the men’s ITT event on July 28 at the Fuji International Speedway. Stream all the racing live on CBC Olympics.

July 27, 2021/by Communications

THE RACE FOR THE MAPLE LEAF SLEEVE WRAPS IN BC AT THE CANADIAN DH CHAMPIONSHIPS

GOLDEN, B.C. (July 26, 2021) – The wait was finally over for Canadian downhill mountain bike athletes, after over eighteen months of waiting to race again on home soil. Athletes from across the country tackled a fast and technical course at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, British Columbia, competing for the coveted maple leaf sleeve, last awarded in 2019.

“It has been an amazing week here in B.C. with the return of the Canada Cup Downhill Series, followed by our first Canadian Championship event since 2019,” said Josh Peacock, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement at Cycling Canada. “All three events broke recent participation records, with the bulk of new registrations in amateur categories – an exciting indication of where our sport is headed. The addition of adaptive racing to the event program was welcomed with overwhelming enthusiasm by the downhill community and is something we will look to develop further in coming years.”

The Championship weekend featured over 300 riders across all categories, including the adaptive riders as the newest category with Cole Bernier from Kelowna, B.C .taking the win.

Riders included familiar names such as Finn Iles, former overall World Cup Champion and Junior World Champion, who was the top seed after racing Saturday. Looking to defend his 2019 national Elite title, Iles was able to cross with the fastest time of 3:48.52 to earn Elite the national title over Mark Wallace, who is coming off the Downhill World Cup in Les Gets, France where he came in fifth.

On the women’s side, Casey Brown edged out former World Champion, Miranda Miller, by just over a second to take the Women’s Elite Canadian Champion title.

Jackson Goldstone won the Men’s Junior Expert category. Goldstone is coming off a successful World Cup tour, winning both gold and silver in Europe in the men’s junior category, before taking to the top of the podium in Canada. On the Women’s Junior side, Emmy Lan took the win by over 30 seconds to Lily Boucher.

Full results from the weekend can be found on Cycling Canada’s event page.

July 26, 2021/by Communications

CANUEL FINISHES 16TH IN WOMEN’S ROAD RACE AT OLYMPIC GAMES

TOKYO (July 25, 2021) – It was another scorcher as the Canadian women raced the 137-kilometre road race that separated Musashinonomori Park and the Fuji International Speedway. The Canadian women fared well in the first half of the race but the peloton quickly became fragmented with Karol-Ann Canuel being the sole Canadian to hang on to the chase group until the very end. After over 4 hours of racing, she finished in 16^th position, 2:20 minutes down gold medallist Anna Kiesenhofer of Austria.

“The course was really, really hard,” said Canuel. “The plan was for the three of us to try and conserve our energy until the top of that first long climb and to see after that. I think I was feeling the best at that point so the girls started helping me more by bringing me food and other things. After that, we wanted to see if we had any opportunities but it was hard with no communication and we didn’t know exactly the time gaps. So for me, I tried to play it smart.”

Alison Jackson, who was added to Team Canada’s roster last week, capped off her Olympic schedule racing into 32^nd spot, while two-time Olympian Leah Kirchmann finished in 36^th.

Both Canuel and Kirchmann will compete in the women’s Individual Time Trial on July 28^th, while Hugo Houle will be representing Canada in the men’s race.

Tomorrow, racing moves to the Izu Mountain Bike course where Peter Disera will be competing in the men’s cross-country mountain bike event. The race will be streamed live on CBC Olympics.

July 25, 2021/by Communications

MIKE WOODS KICKS OFF DAY 1 OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES WITH 5TH PLACE IN MEN’S ROAD RACE

TOKYO (July 24, 2021) – Michael Woods continued to prove that he belongs in an Elite class of climbers on Saturday during the Olympic men’s road race, finishing the 234-kilometer race in 5^th after a nail-biting sprint finish.

After over six hours of racing in 35-degree temperatures, Woods was part of a group of eight cyclists fighting to bridge the gap with eventual Olympic champion Richard Carapaz. With just 300-metres left in the race, Mike positioned himself and sprinted to the finish line where he was edged out of a podium spot.

Despite his goal of winning an Olympic medal, his race was a great improvement from the Rio 2016 Games where he raced with a fractured hip and finished in 55^th. His performance also ranks as the second-best in Canadian men’s road cycling history after Steve Bauer’s silver medal at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.

“My goal was to try and get separation and attack on the final circuit, but I just wasn’t strong enough to get away,” said Woods post-race. “I have no regrets. I did all I could.”

Seeking redemption with the goal of a medal, Woods is already thinking about the Paris 2024 Games. “The Olympics are one of those races that really motivated me as a cyclist, and if Paris is a challenging course, I think I’ll for sure keep it going until then. That’s going to be a big goal of mine for sure.”

Helping propel Woods into the top-five finish were Canadian teammates, Guillaume Boivin, who made his Olympic debut in the event finishing 65^th, and two-time Olympian Hugo Houle who finished the event in 85^th.

Tomorrow, two-time Olympians Leah Kirchmann and Karol-Ann Canuel, as well as Olympic newcomer Alison Jackson will race at 12:00 a.m. EST. The event can be streamed on CBC Olympics.

July 24, 2021/by Communications