Aguascalientes, MEX, Oct. 10, 2016 – Canada finished just outside the medals on Sunday, the final day of competition at the Pan Am Track Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico.  Kinley Gibson of Edmonton was the top Canadian rider of the day, finishing fourth overall in the Women’s Omnium.

Gibson went into the final Points Race sitting third overall, just four points in front of Yeny Colmenares of Colombia.  Colmenares had a very strong Points Race, finishing second, while Gibson could only manage fourth, putting her six points behind the Colombian in the final overall standings, with 193 points.  Marlies Mejias of Cuba dominated the competition, finishing with 231 points for the gold medal.

Cameron Jennings, the Women’s Endurance coach for the project, said “on the women’s side we came down with a development squad, plus Jasmin Glaesser from the Elite team.  For the girls to do a 4:21 in the Team Pursuit [where they won gold] is a very encouraging sign, and for Jasmin and Ariane [Bonhomme] to both podium in the Points Race, and Jasmin in the Individual Pursuit also … I think it’s been a great Pan Am Championships and is very promising for the next generation of riders.”

In the Men’s Keirin, both Stefan Ritter of Edmonton and Joel Archambault of Sainte-Christine, Quebec, made it through the preliminary rounds to the final six that would race for the medals.  However, for both riders it was their first time competing at this level, and more experienced riders took the medals, with Ritter finishing fifth and Archambault sixth.

“The sprint team continued to perform above expectations,” said Alex Ongaro, Sprint coach of the project.  “Both Stefan and Joel won their respective heats in the Keirin to make it to the final.  That didn’t go quite as well as planned, but they both performed well and gained experience for the future.  There were a lot of personal bests and everyone performed very well on all five days.  Our three [sprint] riders excelled in everything they did.”

Canada had a very strong Championships, with a total of nine medals, including three golds, to finish third in the medal standings.  Additionally, Stefan Ritter’s two Junior world records in the 1000m and 200m time trials highlight the effort that Cycling Canada is putting into its Milton-based track programs. The Mattamy National Cycling Centre continues to play an unprecedented and foundational role in Canada’s continued rise up the ranks in international track cycling. The facility has been critical to recent growth and now serves as a beacon for athletes looking to fulfill their Olympic Dreams.

Canadian Sprint coach Erin Hartwell pointed out, “Stefan’s recent successes in winning the Junior world championship back in July and now setting two world records in Mexico is testament to the game-changing expectations of Cycling Canada since the Pan Am Games last summer. That said, I cannot be more proud of Stefan for the work and dedication that he’s put in to get to this point; he’s exceeded expectations! These results show our programs are positioned to develop athletes like Stefan, Hugo Barrette, Kate O’Brien, Monique Sullivan, and others to a world-class standard through our system – not in spite of it!”

Aguascalientes, MEX, Oct. 9, 2016 – Canada won two gold medals and a bronze on Day 4 of the Pan Am Track Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on Saturday.  Aidan Caves (Vancouver) won the overall title in the Men’s Omnium, while Jasmin Glaesser (Coquitlam, BC) took the Women’s Points Race title, with Ariane Bonhomme (Gatineau, Quebec) finishing third.  The Pan Am Championships are the continental championships, and provide valuable points for obtaining starting positions at the world championships.

Caves entered the second day of competition in the six race Omnium with a perfect record of three wins.  He continued that streak in the next two events – the 1000 metre Time Trial and Flying Lap – to begin the final Points Race with a commanding lead.  In the Points Race he rode more conservatively, finishing third, to win the overall title with 246 points.  Julio Padilla (Guatemala) won the Points Race to finish second overall with 228 points, followed by Zak Kovalcik (USA) at 208 points.

In the Women’s Points Race, Glaesser took a lap early on the field and then maintained her lead through the rest of the race, finishing with 37 points.  Team mate Bonhomme also took a lap later in the race to finish with 24 points, only two points out of silver, which was won by Arlenis Sierra of Cuba.

“It was a relatively small field with only 13 riders, so that makes for a tactical race,” explained Glaesser.  “There were some good sprinters and some experienced riders, but I like that challenge with the tactical side to it.  Having Ariane out there allowed us to play a strategy and have two cards to play.  You don’t always get that opportunity, and I’m glad we were able to come out of the race with two medals.”

“It was the first time that I have done a Points Race in the elite category,” said Bonhomme.  “So it was a lot different coming into the race, especially with two riders per country, which made for a different strategy.  Jasmin and I tried to help each other while still going for our own results.  I was able to take a lap around the midpoint in the race when there was a lull, which put me into second, but the Cuban girl won the final sprint which put me third.  But it’s pretty nice to finish third in your first elite race; it was pretty exciting.”

In other competition, Kinley Gibson of Edmonton sits third in the standings after the first three events on the Women’s Omnium, with 108 points.  Marlies Mejias of Cuba leads with 118 points.  Both Stefan Ritter (Edmonton, Alberta) and Joel Archambault (Sainte-Christine, Quebec) bowed out of the Men’s Sprint in the quarterfinal round, with Archambault finishing seventh overall and Ritter eighth.

The Pan Am Championships conclude on Sunday.

Aguascalientes, MEX, Oct. 7, 2016 – Canada added two more medals to its tally on the second day of competition at the 2016 Pan Am Track Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, winning gold and bronze on Thursday, with Stefan Ritter of Edmonton setting a Junior world record in the 1000 metre time trial.  The Pan Am Championships are the continental championships, and provide valuable points for obtaining starting positions at the world championships.

The Canadian Women’s Team Pursuit squad is one of the best in the world, coming off a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics, but for Aguascalientes Canada brought a development squad, with only one member of the bronze medal squad participating, Jasmin Glaesser (Coquitlam, BC).  First in qualifying, the Canadian squad of Glaesser, Ariane Bonhomme (Gatineau, QC), Kinley Gibson (Edmonton, AB) and Jamie Gilgen (Dundas, ON), caught Mexico in the gold medal final on the finish line to win the Pan Am title.  The Canadian team’s time was four minutes and 21.741 seconds.

Kinley Gibson, one of the development riders on the team, said “We’ve made a lot of progress over the last year, and it shows here.  We have done a lot of training but not too much racing as a team, so it was fun to come to a fast track and see what we could do, and we had a really good ride.”

“This is my first race with the [development] girls,” said Glaesser, “and I was super impressed.  I knew they were strong, but to come here and ride a 4:21 is pretty fantastic, and I’m excited to see where this group is going.”

Stefan Ritter, the Junior world champion in the 1000 metre time trial, finished third among Elite-aged riders, setting a new world record for his age category in the process.  His time of one minute and 0.578 seconds took the bronze medal, and was 1.443 seconds behind gold medal winner Santiago Ramirez of Colombia.

Canadian women also competed in the Scratch Race, which came down to a bunch sprint, with Glaesser finishing fifth and Gilgen ninth.

The Pan Am Championships continue through Sunday.