Gold Coast, Australia, April 8, 2018 – Canada completed the track events at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday with Amelia Walsh making the medal final in the women’s Keirin, eventually finishing fifth overall. Canada was one of six nations to win medals in the track event, finishing with two bronze medals.

The last day of competition at the Anna Meares velodrome in Brisbane had four medal events, with Canadians entered in every one. The first medal was awarded in the women’s Scratch Race, with Allison Beveridge finishing seventh after a last lap surge. Amy Cure of Australia won the title.

“It’s been a long season, and we peaked for Worlds,” said Beveridge, “so unfortunately we came here not feeling as physically prepped as we would have liked. I knew I didn’t have too many bullets to spend in the race, and I couldn’t quite get around the other sprinters at the end of the race.”

The Australians continued to dominate in the women’s Keirin, finishing 1-2. Walsh, who originally did not make the six rider medal final – missing by one spot – was moved up to ride in the final after another rider was relegated in the semi-final round. In the final, Walsh was at the front for the early part of the race, before being caught and passed in the final lap and a half. Lauriane Genest did not make the medal final, but won the ‘small final’, to finish seventh overall.

“I found out ten minutes before the Final that I was back in the race,” said Walsh. “I had gone to the athlete lounge to cool down a bit, and Franck [Durivaux, head coach] came running in. It was a bit of a rollercoaster this week after getting disqualified in Team Sprint [after qualifying for the bronze medal final]. So I was really happy to make the Final today; I believe this is my first Keirin final at the international level. It’s always a pleasure to represent the maple leaf, and it didn’t quite sink in until I walked in the velodrome the other day and the stands were full.”

Australia added a third medal for the day in the men’s 1000 metre time trial, with Keirin champion Matt Glaetzer setting a Games record time. Stefan Ritter was Canada’s top finisher in 14th place.

“The Kilo is one of my favourite events and I gave it everything,” said Ritter.  “Unfortunately, I didn’t go as fast as I would have liked to. We’ve changed the gear I ride since Apeldoorn [world championships], and it’s faster off the start, but I think I pushed too hard in the second half, and I really didn’t have anything in the last lap. This was an incredibly special event to participate in; the fans are absolutely amazing, they really push you.”

The track session concluded with the men’s Points Race, and Canada was able to put two riders through qualifying and into the final – Michael Foley and Jay Lamoureux. Lamoureux featured in a couple of breakaways, and eventually finished in 14th place, while Foley did not finish.

Gold Coast, Australia, April 6, 2018 – Canada could not match its two medals from the first day of competition on the track at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. However, the sprint team came very close to a bronze medal with women’s sprint revelation Lauriane Genest of Levis, Quebec, who finished fourth.

Genest, who was an alternate that was added to the team less than two months ago, is competing in her first international competition. This morning, she broke the Commonwealth Games record in qualifying, with a time that stood up until the very last rider – defending champion Stephanie Morton – surpassed it. Her time of 10.757 seconds is a new Canadian record, and less than four-tenths of a second off the world record.

Genest came within centimetres of making the gold medal final against eventual champion Morton, but was beaten in the semi-final by Natasha Hansen (New Zealand), who won the silver medal.  Genest went up against Australia’s Kaarle MCulloch for the bronze medal, but lost in two rides to her more experienced opponent. Canada’s second competitor, Amelia Walsh was knocked out in the quarter-final round.

“Fourth was way more than I was expecting,” said Genest. “I broke the [200 metre] record; it was a personal best, for sure. Then in the semi-final it went to three rides, and that was the hardest time of the night. It cost me a lot, I gave everything I had in those rides and it was so close.”

Canada also had a pair of seventh places finishes from Annie Foreman-Mackey of Kingston, Ontario, in the women’s individual pursuit, and Hugo Barrette of Iles de la Madeleine, Quebec, in the men’s Keirin.

“My legs were definitely feeling yesterday’s races,” said Foreman-Mackey. “I tried to put together a solid ride and it was a PB [Personal Best] for me, which was encouraging. I didn’t pace myself right, so I didn’t get quite what I was going for, but I keep learning every race.”

Canada also competed in the men’s individual pursuit, with Adam Jamieson of Barrie, Ontario, the top Canadian finisher in 15th place.

Kris Westwood, Team Manager for Cycling at the Games, said “Lauriane was a bit of a surprise, since we haven’t had a chance to see her race at this level before. We knew she was fast, but to break the Commonwealth record and then to advance all the way to the bronze medal final of the Sprint is pretty amazing. You could tell by the end of the evening she was pretty exhausted, but she was still giving it her all. I think there is a lot of promise among our riders, and we are not very far from being able to regularly land on the podium.”

Gold Coast, Australia, April 3^rd, 2018 – When the 2018 Commonwealth Games begin on Thursday in Gold Coast, Australia, Team Canada’s cyclists will be among the first athletes to compete, with four gold medals up for grabs at the Anna Meares velodrome on the opening day of competition.

The track competition will run over four days, from April 5th to 8th, with a total of 16 medal events to be contested. Canada will have riders in every event, with strong medal potential in a number of them, beginning with the Women’s Team Pursuit on Thursday.

Canada has won bronze in the past two Olympic Games in this event, plus multiple world championship and World Cup medals. The women’s team will be anchored by Calgary’s Allison Beveridge, a member of the 2016 Rio bronze medal team. Beveridge, the reigning national road champion, will also compete in the road events later in the Games.

“The track is the focus for now, and then we’ll have some time to look at the road,” said Beveridge. “It’s a super nice track, super smooth; yesterday was our first day training there, but it went pretty well, although it’s really hot, for sure, which will be a factor.”

“New Zealand and Australia will be really strong, but I think Wales and England will also have pretty decent team pursuit squads. Wales has some previous team pursuiters who had gone to the road, but have come back for this event, so they have a pretty strong program for the Games. England has their development team here, mixed in with some of their Elite team, including some current world champions. I think it is going to be a pretty good battle; the Aussies are obviously peaking for this, so it’s going to be a fight, and with only two rounds, you have to get that first ride right.”

Other opening night events include the Men’s Team Pursuit and the Team Sprint for both men and women. Canada’s men had a breakthrough ride at the recent world championships in the Team Pursuit, finishing eighth – the highest ever for the Canadian men’s team.

Vancouver’s Aidan Caves, who is the sole member of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games team pursuit squad to be at these Games, says the track is perfect for their event.

“It’s a really nice facility. We had no issues riding here and finding our line, and it seems pretty fast. We find it better for riding team pursuit on than some other tracks, like Glasgow [2014 Commonwealth Games], which was built more for sprinting. This has wider corners and is easier to do exchanges on.”

“There’s been a lot of new faces come to our team [since Glasgow]. That was basically the first major race the Canadian men’s team pursuit ever did. Since then, a couple of people have retired and we have filled the gaps with people like Adam Jamieson and Derek Gee, and last year Michael Foley stepped in. I guess I’ve just been the constant in the group.”

“It’s been pretty awesome to see it evolve and we’ve dropped about 14 seconds off what we did last time. We came fourth in Glasgow so we are definitely looking for a podium here. Obviously we have New Zealand, England and Australia here, but we are hoping to give them a run.”

In the Team Sprint, Australia and New Zealand are the current favorites. For the men’s squad, Canada is bringing just one sprint rider from the previous 2014 team, Rio Olympian Hugo Barrette of Iles de la Madeleine, Quebec. Barrette will be joined by former Junior world kilo champion Stefan Ritter and newcomer Patrice St-Louis Pivin. The team will be hoping to make it to the medal round.

The women’s sprint team is made up of Amelia Walsh of Ayr, Ontario, and Lauriane Genest of Levis, Quebec. This will be the first Commonwealth Games experience for both of these riders, and their first as a team competing at the international level.

Once the team events have been completed on the opening day, the focus will switch to individual events over the remaining three days of track competition. A total of 12 medal events – six each for men and women – will be contested, with the Individual Pursuit, Scratch Race and Points Race for the endurance riders, and the Sprint, Keirin and Time Trial for the sprint riders.

Barrette will be a strong contender for a medal in both the Sprint and Keirin, as will Stefan Ritter of Edmonton in the men’s 1000 metre time trial. Canada also has medal potential in the women’s endurance events, with Annie Foreman-Mackey of Kingston, Ontario, a former world championship medalist in the Individual Pursuit. Beveridge and Steph Roorda of Vancouver will also contend in the women’s Points and Scratch races.