CANADA WRAPS UP BERLIN WORLDS WITH FIVE TOP-5S

Berlin, Germany (March 1, 2020) – In the last qualifying event before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Canada did not earn any medals, but finished the competition with three fourth places and two fifth places. The 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships saw numerous World Records shattered, while Canadian athletes set a new national record in the women’s Team Pursuit.

Canada opened the competition with a fifth place in the Team Sprint for Lauriane Genest and Kelsey Mitchell, who were teaming up for one of the first times in their careers. Kelsey Mitchell went on to break into the upper echelon of world class sprinters with a fourth place in the Sprint competition, only two years after joining the National Team Program.

The women’s endurance squad showed considerable development since the 2016 Rio Olympics, lowering the Canadian record by 2s and finishing fourth in the Team Pursuit. Annie Foreman-Mackey earned a 5th place finish in the Individual Pursuit, while Vincent de Haitre also rode very well in the Kilo setting the fourth fastest time, missing the podium by the narrowest of margins.

“It’s been a pretty hard fought world championships,” said Brendon Cameron, Head Track Coach for Canada. “The athletes and staff have worked really, really hard in the final year of a four year [Olympic] qualification. A big difference is that equipment innovation has been rolled out a lot earlier than for previous Olympic Games, but I think we are ‘in the game’ in a lot of events.”