Milton, ON (September 30, 2019) – Over 140 athletes from all over the country took part in the 2019 Canadian Track Championships for Elite and Masters from September 26-28 at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, Ontario.

The Elite & Masters women and men categories each contested for eight national titles in the sprint and endurance events, with a number of athletes winning several titles in different events, including Masters A riders Fabien Lamaze and Candice Moote who swept all the events they entered in. In the Elite category, five athletes won several titles over the weekend – Nick Wammes of Bothwell, ON, in the Sprint, Team Sprint and Keirin, Kelsey Mitchell from Sherwoood Park, AB, in the Sprint, Team Sprint and Time Trial, Derek Gee of Ottawa, ON, in the Omnium, Madison and Individual Pursuit, Michael Foley of Milton, ON, in the Madison and Team Pursuit and Steph Roorda of Vancouver, BC, in the Omnium and Madison.

Development athlete Nick Wammes managed to secure his first Canadian champion title since becoming an Elite: “It’s been quite the journey in the last eight months, with my first world cup in New Zealand last year, and a long summer of racing at the Pan Am Games and Pan Am Championships. It’s pretty crazy to think that last year I was barely getting on the podium, and this year I won three Elite titles. I’m so happy with my performances this weekend and it’s a great way to start the season.”

“Nationals is a very special event for me, especially since last year it was my first major competition. Coming in this year, I gained a lot of confidence from my other races and just went all out. It’s exciting to get to race against your teammates that you see every single day because you know their strengths and weaknesses and it’s just so different. I’m very excited for what’s coming,” said RBC Training Ground athlete Kelsey Mitchell.

“It’s so impressive to see the overall level of our athletes improve, especially the depth that we’re seeing out of our younger athletes” said Kris Westwood, High Performance Director at Cycling Canada.  “We’ve never seen track cycling at this level in Canada before and the momentum that has built up around the Mattamy National Cycling Centre is really starting to pay dividends. It’s an exciting time for track cycling and I think it’s only going to improve in the future.”

Cochabamba, Bolivia (September 10, 2019) – Team Canada concluded day five of the Pan American Track Championships in Cochabamba, Bolivia, by winning three more medals in the Keirin and Kilo events, bringing the total tally up to fifteen medals.

Lauriane Genest and Kelsey Mitchell went head-to-head in the Keirin final, with Genest ultimately taking the lead and sprinting to gold, while her teammate took home her first bronze medal of the Championships. Vincent de Haitre also finished third in the Kilo, and recorded a personal best time of 58.951.

Over the last five days of competition, Team Canada won 8 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze medals, and amassed critical qualification points for the Tokyo Olympic Games. The squad also kicked off the season by setting six Canadian, five Pan Am and one world record, and the Men’s Team Pursuit squad became the second nation in history to ride faster than 3:50, while the women’s squad became the third nation to ride under 4:14.

“This was an amazing way to kick off the second year of Olympic qualifying,” said Cycling Canada high performance director Kris Westwood. “Our track team was well prepared for the Pan Am championships, but we really weren’t sure how the athletes would do at altitude – especially after the long trip to central Bolivia. Kelsey’s world record and winning so many medals was quite a bit above expectations, and certainly mission accomplished from the point of view of Olympic qualification. On a more sobering note, Hugo’s injury is a really big blow, and we hope he can recover in time for the world cups in December to lock in his Olympic qualification.”

For full results, click here.

Results

Gold – Women’s Team Pursuit (Allison Beveridge, Georgia Simmerling, Ariane Bonhomme, Annie Foreman-Mackey), Men’s Team Pursuit (Derek Gee, Jay Lamoureux, Vincent de Haitre, Michael Foley, Aidan Caves), Women’s Team Sprint (Kelsey Mitchell & Lauriane Genest), Points Race (Michael Foley), Sprint (Kelsey Mitchell), Individual Pursuit (Georgia Simmerling), Omnium (Derek Gee), Keirin (Lauriane Genest)

Silver – Omnium (Allison Beveridge), Individual Pursuit (Annie Foreman-Mackey)

Bronze – Scratch Race (Kinley Gibson & Aidan Caves), Individual Pursuit (Jay Lamoureux), Keirin (Kelsey Mitchell), Kilo (Vincent de Haitre)

Cochabamba, Bolivia (September 6, 2019) – Team Canada had an exceptional start to the Pan American Track Championships in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with riders setting Canadian and Pan American records in four separate events. Kelsey Mitchell kicked off the second day of competition by setting a new World and Pan Am record in the 200m Sprint with a time of 10.154, and went on to win all of her heats to qualify for the semi-finals today.

“It felt pretty great to establish a new record,” said Mitchell. “The track is fast here and the air is thin, so I knew the record would be beaten but I didn’t know if I would be the one to do it. I’m pumped about my time but I’m focused on the next race and hoping to make it all the way to the final.”

On the endurance side, both women’s and men’s Team Pursuit squads set records, with the women setting a time of 4:13.488 and the men 3:49.974, which earned them both gold medals and automatic qualifications to the World Championships. In individual events, both Kinley Gibson and Aidan Caves won bronze in the Scratch Race on Wednesday.

In the women’s Team Sprint, Lauriane Genest and Kelsey Mitchell set a record time of 32.232 seconds, and went on to win the gold medal in the Final against Mexico. Defending Keirin champion Hugo Barrette made it to the semi-finals, but had an unfortunate crash during the race and will be unable to return to competition this week. Joel Archambault finished 4^th in the event.

Frankfurt, Germany (August 17th, 2019) – Team Canada won their first medal of the Junior Track World Championships on Friday, with a bronze medal performance from Tristan Jussaume of Contrecoeur, Quebec, in the Individual Pursuit.  Jussaume set a time of 3:14.555 in the qualifying round – a new national record – and then beat Zach Bridges of Great Britain in the bronze medal final.

“I really wasn’t expecting this,” said Jussaume.  “I had in my head to do 3:20 and maybe I could do a Canadian record, but I wasn’t certain.  At the same time, I told myself it’s the World Championships and I have to give it all, but I wasn’t thinking about the podium.  This means so much to me, for all the hours I’ve put in, the training camps and all the efforts.”

Jussaume’s record was the 5th national record broken at these events. On the opening day in Frankfurt, The Junior men’s Team Sprint squad of James Hedgcock, Andrew Scott and Riley Pickrell knocked nearly a second off the national record, with a new time of 46.280 seconds, eventually finishing eighth overall.  In the men’s Team Pursuit, the squad of Tristan Jussaume, Riley Pickrell, Sean Richardson and Jackson Kinniburgh set a qualifying time of 4:06.342, nearly 3.5 seconds faster than the old record.

Day 2 saw the women’s Team Pursuit time of 4:31.926 set by the team of Ngaire Barraclough, Sarah van Dam, Lily Plante and Adele Desgagnes knock the existing record by just over six-tenths of a second off of the previous one, set in 2017. Women’s sprinter Madison Dempster followed up with breaking the 200m sprint Canadian record that has stood for 12 years, with a time of 11.501.

The Junior Track World Championships will continue through the weekend.

Lima, Peru (August 3, 2019) – Team Canada took their second silver medal in cycling at the Pan Am Games in as many days, in the women’s Team Pursuit on Friday. The Canadian squad of Erin Attwell, Miriam Brouwer, Maggie Coles-Lyster and Laurie Jussaume recorded a time of 4:27.799 for the gold medal race against the USA, a personal best for the NextGen squad. The American team recorded 4:24.099 for the win.

“I mean being a development team athlete, it’s pretty incredible especially coming to my first Pan Am Games, and coming away with a medal is something I would not have been able to say that we are going to do that beforehand. It just shows that the amount of work that we put in is really paying off and the puzzle pieces are slowly coming together. I feel this group has a whole lot more to offer, but it’s a good starting point. It’s just an amazing learning experience and I’m looking forward to more opportunities like this,” said Erin Attwell.

In other competitions, Kelsey Mitchell finished fifth in the women’s Keirin after winning her first heat earlier in the day. Competition continues on Saturday with the women’s Sprint and Omnium events.