March 4/17 12:36 pm - Canada Wins Three Medals on Second Day of Para Track Worlds

Posted by Editoress on 03/4/17
 

Team Canada continues to excel at the Para-cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles, with three more medals on Friday, the second day of competition.  Tristen Chernove of Cranbrook, BC, and Ross Wilson of Sherwood Park, Alberta each won their second world titles, while Marie-Claude Molnar of St-Hubert, Quebec, won silver.  This gives Canada five medals - 4 gold and 1 silver - in two days of competition.

In the C1 Men's 3000 metre Individual Pursuit, Wilson set a personal best in qualifying, and then caught his opponent in the gold medal final.

Head coach Sebastien Travers commented, "In the qualifying race Ross executed perfectly and surprised us with another Personal Best. In the finals, we opted for an aggressive pace, which paid off as Ross lapped his opponent, therefore securing the rainbow jersey."

In the C2 Men's 3000 metre Individual Pursuit, Chernove had a bit of a scare in the qualifying round after pulling his foot out of his pedal, but came back to make the Final, where he won with a time of three minutes and 47.424 seconds, nearly seven seconds faster than his opponent, Aaron Keith of the United States.

Travers explained, "For Tristen, his qualifier was a race against adversity; after unclipping at the start, Tristen kept going and was enroute for a Personal Best. Going against Mauricio Eckard of Spain, Tristen went for the pass, but the Spaniard sped up, forcing Tristen to stay high for four laps, therefore doing a longer distance. Tristen still managed to get the best time, which was the objective. He came back ready for the finals and executed well to secure the title."

Molnar finished the day off with a silver medal in the C4 Women's 500 metre Time Trial, finishing with a time of 42.606 seconds, just over one second behind Shawn Morelli of the United States.

"Marie-Claude's 500m was very well executed," said Travers, "with a personal best her opening lap. This is exciting for Marie-Claude, given the [short] amount of time she had to prepare for this event."

"Overall, Another good day for the nation," said Travers.  Two golds and a silver is pretty awesome!! We are looking forward to tomorrow's events, where Marie-Claude will race the Pursuit and Scratch Race."

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