Aguascalientes, Mexico (August 31, 2018) – Team Canada continued to win medals at the Pan American Track Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, with gold and bronze medal performances on Thursday, the second day of competition, to add to the bronze medal won on the first day. The Continental Championships offer valuable points for nation ranking in qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Hugo Barrette of Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, won the men’s Keirin competition, defeating two Colombian riders in the final. Unfortunately, Canada’s other competitor in the race, Stefan Ritter of Edmonton, crashed in his semi-final race and had to be taken to hospital for observation.

Kris Westwood, High Performance Director at Cycling Canada, said, “Hugo put together some fantastic rides to win gold in the Keirin on a difficult day for the Canadian team. Everyone’s thoughts are, of course, with Stefan Ritter after his crash this afternoon. Fortunately, it appears his injuries are not as severe as initially feared and the medical staff expect him to recover fully. We will share updates on his condition when appropriate.”

Canada also won a bronze medal in the women’s Team Pursuit. Canada sent a development squad to Aguascalientes, comprised of Maggie Coles-Lyster, Laurie Jussaume, Devaney Collier, Erin Attwell and Miriam Brouwer. The team caught the Chilean team in the race for the bronze medal.

In other competition, the men’s Team Pursuit squad finished fourth, Evan Burtnick was seventh in the men’s Scratch Race, and in women’s Sprint qualifying, Lauriane Genest was second and Amelia Walsh was seventh. Genest advanced to the semi-final with her second place, and is guaranteed to ride for a medal.

Milton, ON (August 22, 2018) – Cycling Canada has announced a team of 17 athletes to represent Canada at the Pan American Track Championships, to take place in Aguascalientes, Mexico, from August 29th to September 3rd.

The Pan Am Championships are the Continental Championships, covering North, Central and South America, and are one of the most important annual events for Canada to collect nation ranking points that will be used to determine Olympic quotas for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

“The Pan Am Championships mark a shift in our track programming as we enter the Olympic qualification phase,” said Kris Westwood, Team Manager and High Performance Director for Cycling Canada. “From now until 2020 every Pan Ams, world championships and World Cup count towards our quota in Tokyo. Having taken a hard look at our chances in each of the Olympic events, we’re taking a strategic approach to make sure we maximize our qualification chances.”

Cycling Canada has selected a team comprised of both Olympic-level and NextGen development athletes, as it builds experience for younger riders and looks to capture points in key Olympic events. In the Sprint program, Rio Olympian Hugo Barrette will be joined on the men’s side by former Junior world champion Stefan Ritter. The women’s sprint squad will consist of Amelia Walsh and Lauriane Genest, who both represented Canada at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

“We’ve entered Olympic pool athletes in the critical individual events: the Omnium, the Sprint and the Keirin,” explains Westwood. “We will be running development athletes in the Team Pursuits, which allows most of the Olympic pool athletes to skip this trip and focus on the upcoming World Cups and world championships.”

“The toughest decision was to not enter the men’s Team Sprint after determining that we are not at a level to vie for an Olympic spot in that event.  But it was a critical decision that frees up energy and resources for us to pursue qualification in the individual sprint events.”

The women’s endurance squad will be led by Olympic bronze medalist Allison Beveridge, who won two gold medals at the 2017 Pan Am Championships. The men’s endurance team is led by Aidan Caves, who has won six medals at previous Pan Am Championships, including two gold medals.

Women
Erin Attwell – Victoria, BC [Team Pursuit]
Allison Beveridge – Calgary, AB [Omnium, Madison]
Miriam Brouwer – Burlington, ON [Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit]
Maggie Coles-Lyster – Maple Ridge, BC [Points Race, Team Pursuit]
Devaney Collier – Edmonton, AB [Team Pursuit, Scratch Race]
Lauriane Genest – Levis, QC [Sprint, Keirin, 500m, Team Sprint]
Laurie Jussaume – Contrecoeur, QC [Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit]
Stephanie Roorda – Vancouver, BC [Madison]
Amelia Walsh – Ayr, ON [Sprint, Keirin, 500m, Team Sprint]

Men
Hugo Barrette – Iles-de-la-Madeleine, QC [Sprint, Keirin]
Evan Burtnik – Edmonton, AB [Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit, Scratch Race, Madison]
Aidan Caves – Vancouver, BC [Omnium]
Vince De Haitre – Ottawa, ON [1000m, Team Pursuit]
Chris Ernst – Kitchener, ON [Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit]
Tristan Guillemette – Trois Rivieres [Alternate – Team Pursuit]
Thierry Kirouac-Marcassa – Boucherville, QC [Team Pursuit, Points Race, Madison]
Stefan Ritter – Edmonton, AB [Sprint, Keirin, 1000m]

Milton, Ontario, April 17, 2018 – National records were broken over the weekend at the 2018 Canadian Track Championships p/b Lexus for Under-17 and Junior athletes, which took place at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, Ontario. The Para-cycling International Challenge also took place during the weekend.

Five Canadian records were broken, including three in Team Sprint, for the Under-17 Men (Team Ontario – Dylan Bibic/Andrew Scott/Tyler Rorke), Under-17 Women (Team Ontario – Nicole Bradbury/Madison Dempster) and Junior Men (Cycling BC – Tyler Davies/Ethan Ogrodniczuk/Riley Pickrell).  Additional national records fell in the Under-17 Women’s 500 metre time trial (Madison Dempster, Midweek Cycling, Ontario) and Under-17 Women’s Sprint 200 metre time trial (Madison Dempster, Midweek Cycling, Ontario).

Ontario took the most national titles, with 19, followed by British Columbia at 14. The only other provinces to score multiple titles were Quebec with three and Alberta with two.

Individually, three athletes dominated their categories. Ontario’s Dylan Bibic (Midweek CC) won an incredible seven gold medals in Under-17 men, winning every single event except Sprint and 500 metre time trial, where he also medaled. Cycling BC’s Sarah van Dam was as dominant in Junior Women, also winning seven national titles, while her team mate Riley Pickrell took six titles in Junior Men. 

Dylan Bibic, who is still only 14 years old, said, “It was a good weekend. I don’t have the really fast acceleration for the sprint events; I like to get going while I’m already up to speed, so the sprints were challenging for me. I expected to get on the podium for most events, but I didn’t expect to get as many first places as I did.”

Sarah van Dam, racing in her first year as a Junior rider, stated, “It’s pretty unreal. I came into this competition thinking that there were so many good riders here, so I was just taking it race by race. I just worked on good positioning for every race and it turned out well. I knew I came here near the top, but I didn’t know I was going to be at the very top; there’s so many strong riders here.”

Riley Pickrell also moved up to Junior for this season. “I came into the weekend expecting to do well, and I think I achieved what I came to do. I was moving up a category [to Junior], so I thought the competition would be as hard as it was. I’m super excited about the Canadian record [in the Team Sprint].  My team mates and I have been working hard all winter for it, nailing the exchanges, and it all came together.”

In the Para events, the C4 500/1000 metre time trials and individual pursuits were won by Canadian Rio Paralympian Marie-Claude Molnar (Equipe du Quebec) for the women, and John Terrell of the United States for the men. The men’s tandem 1000 metre time trial and individual pursuit were both won by the Quebec duo of Matthieu Croteau Daigle and his pilot Benoit Lussier, while Kavisha Barran and her pilot Petrina Tulissi won the women’s 1000 metre time trial, and Stela Trudeau with her pilot Carrie Cartmill won the women’s individual pursuit.

Jessika Grand Bois, Technical Delegate for the Championships, said, “I am always excited about these Championships. There is something amazing about seeing these athletes race at that level and see them progress through the years, as well as witnessing the camaraderie between them and the support of their family. We are happy to see the fields grow every year and saw some amazing racing this weekend.”