February 25/16 10:25 am - Cycling Canada Announces Track Worlds Squad

Posted by Editoress on 02/25/16
 

Cycling Canada has announced the team of athletes who will represent Canada at the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in London, UK, at the Lee Valley Velodrome, site of the 2012 Olympic track events.  The World Championships will take place March 2 -6, and are the final event to count towards qualifying starting spots for the Rio Olympic Games later this year.

Team Canada will enter these world championships with a squad of 15 riders - 9 women and 6 men.  The Team is coming off an exceptionally strong World Cup season, with seven medals and the overall World Cup title for the Women's Team Pursuit.

Women's Team Pursuit


Canada is particularly strong in the Women's Team Pursuit, Women's Omnium, Women's Points Race, Women's Team Sprint, Women's Keirin and Men's Keirin.

Cycling Canada's High Performance Director, Jacques Landry, commented, "As the Olympic Games are quickly approaching the Track World Championships in London become a critical step in testing all of our systems. In essence, these Track Worlds, that will be held 160 days prior to the Olympic track events in Rio, are our ultimate dress rehearsal."

The Women's Endurance Team will make up the largest contingent of athletes, with seven riders named to the squad.  Initially, the team was to be six of the seven [on the short list], however, "Over the course of the last training phase our riders and staff all fell prey to different degrees of the flu," explained Landry.

"While everyone is on the mend, training sessions that would have normally determined who of the seven riders would have made the trip to London proved to be inconclusive. In the spirit of picking the best possible riders for the different rounds of the Team Pursuit event and the Omnium, High Performance management have decided to have all seven riders travel to London, as opposed to an originally planned six. It is hoped that once on the boards at the Lee Valley velodrome, more evidence will become available to determine the best possible starters."

The Women's Endurance Team will have riders entered in the Team Pursuit, Omnium, Points Race, Scratch Race and Individual Pursuit events.  The final determination of participants for each event will be made in London.


Allison Beveridge in the Omnium

Women's Team Pursuit won the World Cup overall


The Men's Endurance Team will consist of five athletes. who will compete in the Team Pursuit and Individual Pursuit events.  The final determination of participants for each event will be made in London.


Team Pursuit

The Women's Sprint Team consists of two athletes - Monique Sullivan and Kate O'Brien.  Both athletes will compete in three events - the Team Sprint, Sprint and Keirin.


Kate O'Brien and Monique Sullivan, Women's Team Sprint

Monique Sullivan, Women's Team Sprint

Kate O'Brien

Monique Sullivan, Women's Keirin

Hugo Barrette will be Canada's single male Sprint rider, and will compete in both the Keirin and the Sprint events.

Hugo Barrette, Men's Keirin

Hugo Barrette, Men's Sprint

Landry continued, "I am looking forward to seeing our best track riders going up against the world in London. I am confident in our riders' capacity to take on the world and reach new heights next month, as these athletes have been working hard for this, and have the full support and leadership from our international level coaches and dedicated and professional support staff."

Canada's strongest medal hope is the Women's Team Pursuit, which won the World Cup title and has a consistent history of medals at the world championships.  The team has never won the world title, and will face its strongest competition from defending champions and world record holders Australia and Great Britain, which won the Olympic title on this track in 2012.  While riders won't be named to events until in London, there is a good chance that we will see Allison Beveridge in the Omnium, since she won this event in Round 2 of the World Cup.

Other strong medal prospects are Monique Sullivan and Hugo Barrette for the women's and men's Keirin, respectively.  Both medalled in this event at World Cups this past season.


Women's Endurance (Team Pursuit, Omnium, Points Race, Scratch Race and Individual Pursuit)
Allison Beveridge [Calgary, AB]
Laura Brown [Calgary, AB]
Annie Foreman-Mackey [Kingston, ON]
Jasmin Glaesser [Coquitlam, BC]
Kirsti Lay [Medicine Hat, AB]
Steph Roorda [Vancouver, BC]
Georgia Simmerling [Vancouver, BC]

Women's Sprint (Team Sprint, Sprint and Keirin)
Kate O'Brien [Calgary, AB]
Monique Sullivan [Calgary, AB]

Men's Endurance (Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit)
Aidan Caves [Vancouver, BC]
Adam Jamieson [Barrie, ON]
Sean Mackinnon [Hamilton, ON]
Rémi Pelletier-Roy [Longueuil, QC]
Ed Veal [Queensville, ON]

Men's Sprint (Sprint, Keirin)
Hugo Barrette [Iles de Madeleine, QC]