April 22/23 8:14 am - Team Canada Opens Nations Cup with Two Medals
Posted by Editoress on 04/22/23
Team Canada had a strong start on Friday to the final round of the Nations Cup at their home track in Milton, Ontario, winning a silver and a bronze medal, as well as a fourth place finish.
In the women's Team Sprint, the squad of Sarah Orban, Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest took silver, finishing 0.413 seconds behind an extremely fast Mexican team. Poland was third.
"This is very close to our best time. Going for the gold medal, we had nothing to lose and we really gave it our all," said Genest. "The points we earned today are beneficial for Olympic qualification. We were not at our best at the Jakarta Nations Cup so it's really nice to be back to where we were last year and to be back here at home."
Also scoring their best result of the season was the men's Team Sprint squad of Tyler Rorke, Nick Wammes and James Hedgcock finishing fourth with a time of 43.398. They were edged out by Great Britain for the bronze, with China claiming silver and world champions Australia taking the win.
In the women's Team Pursuit, Sarah Van Dam, Maggie Coles-Lyster, Ariane Bonhomme and Erin Attwell brought home the bronze medal, powered by the cheering of their home crowd. They fought back from a deficit to beat Team USA in the final 500 metres, placing behind Germany (silver) and Great Britain (gold).
"This gives us confidence. We're a new team and since the Tokyo Games, we've been trying to rebuild our program," commented Tokyo Olympian Ariane Bonhomme. "We knew we were capable of doing this but everything needed to come together on race day. We've been trying for more than a year and today everything worked out. We know that this is the start of something special."
After setting a personal best in the qualification round, the men's Team Pursuit squad (Mathias Guillemette, Carson Mattern, Dylan Bibic and Michael Foley) finished fourth, just shy of the bronze medal final. It was world champion Great Britain who brought home the gold medal, followed by Italy and France for silver and bronze.
Dylan Bibic, Sarah Van Dam and Mathias Guillemette also took part in the Elimination Race, finishing seventh, 10th and 12th, respectively.
Photos
Friday Morning Session assorted
Women Team Pursuit Final
Women Team Sprint: First Round and Final
Men Team Sprint: First Round and Final
Men Team Pursuit Final
Nations Cup Milton: Day 2 results
Three Canadian Squads Qualify for Team Pursuit
Nations Cup Milton: Day 1 results
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