June 25/24 13:01 pm - Twenty-one cycling athletes named to Team Canada for Paris 2024

Posted by Editoress on 06/25/24
 

Cycling Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee have announced the roster of Team Canada cycling athletes nominated to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The 21 athletes are:

BMX Racing:
Molly Simpson (Red Deer, Alta.)

Mountain Bike:
Isabella Holmgren (Orillia, Ont.)
Gunnar Holmgren (Orillia, Ont.)

Road:
Olivia Baril (Rouyn-Noranda, Que.)
Derek Gee (Ottawa, Ont.)
Alison Jackson (Vermilion, Alta.)
Michael Woods (Ottawa, Ont.)

Track (Endurance):
Erin Attwell (Victoria, B.C.)
Dylan Bibic (Mississauga, Ont.)
Ariane Bonhomme (Gatineau, Que.)
Maggie Coles-Lyster (Maple Ridge, B.C.)
Michael Foley (Milton, Ont.)
Mathias Guillemette (Trois-Rivieres, Que.)
Carson Mattern (Ancaster, Ont.)
Sarah Van Dam (Victoria, B.C.)

Track (Sprint):
Lauriane Genest (Levis, Que.)
James Hedgcock (Ancaster, Ont.)
Kelsey Mitchell (Sherwood Park, Alta.)
Sarah Orban (Calgary, Alta.)
Tyler Rorke (Baden, Ont.)
Nick Wammes (Bothwell, Ont.)

Following the confirmation of Canada’s final Olympic quotas, the mountain bike, track, and BMX athletes were selected based on their performances at UCI World Cups and World Championships in 2023 and 2024. Road cyclists were selected for Team Canada based on their performances on the world stage in 2023 and 2024 and their suitability to the Olympic course.

Molly Simpson, who will make her Olympic debut at Paris 2024, will be the sole Canadian athlete in BMX racing. The 21-year-old made her major Games debut at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games where she won the silver medal. During the 2023 season, Simpson finished in the top five in each of the first four World Cup races. She later reached the top four at back-to-back World Cup races in early 2024. Simpson was the bronze medallist at the 2022 UCI U23 World Championships.

“I have dreamed of going to the Olympics since I was a little girl and now here I am preparing for my first ones! Words can’t describe how excited and how happy I am to represent Canada at the highest level of my sport; it’s truly an incredible feeling,” said Simpson. “I am really looking forward to the experience and the atmosphere of the whole event, it’s going to be amazing! The process to get here over the past few years has been filled with some high highs and some extreme lows but I am feeling very grateful for this opportunity. Thank you so much to everyone involved.”

Isabella Holmgren is the youngest cycling athlete on the Paris 2024 Canadian Olympic Team. The 19-year-old is a two-time world junior champion, having won gold in mountain bike and cyclocross in 2023. This year, she has won two UCI U23 World Cup gold medals in mountain bike. Her older brother Gunnar Holmgren will also be making his Olympic debut this summer. He was Team Canada’s first gold medallist at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. Gunnar secured his spot on Team Canada for Paris 2024 with his eighth-place finish at the UCI Elite World Cup  in Nové Město na Moravě, Czechia in late May, posting one of Canada’s best UCI World Cup results in men’s mountain bike since 2019.

“I’m very proud to soon become an Olympian, and being selected alongside my sister makes it even more special,” said Holmgren. “I’m building to my peak form over the next six weeks and I’m excited to get out there and honor the maple leaf.”

Paris 2024 will be the third Olympic appearance for Michael Woods, who finished fifth in the Tokyo 2020 road race, Canada’s second-best Olympic result ever in the event. Woods made history with his bronze medal in the road race at the 2018 UCI World Championships – the first medal by a Canadian man in the event in 34 years. The 37-year-old is also the first Canadian to ever reach the podium in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day classic. In 2023, he earned his first career Tour de France stage victory.

Woods will race in Paris alongside former track cyclist Derek Gee who is coming off winning a stage of le Critérium du Dauphiné, his first international victory. Gee gained international attention with his daring breakaways and runner-up finishes in four stages at the 2023 Giro d’Italia which earned him the overall combativity award. Gee competed in the men’s madison and contributed to the fifth-place finish in the men’s team pursuit on the velodrome at Tokyo 2020.

“I’m unbelievably excited to represent Canada for my second Olympic Games in Paris this summer,” said Gee. “Tokyo 2020 was an experience of a lifetime and was a real privilege to race with the maple leaf on my back on the world’s biggest stage. Having spent some time in France already this year and seeing the build up, I can’t wait to experience the atmosphere in Paris this summer. I think it’s truly going to be unparalleled, especially at the cycling events.”

Well known internationally thanks to her historic victory at Paris-Roubaix in 2023, Alison Jackson will make her second Olympic appearance, after having competed in the women’s road race at Tokyo 2020. Earlier this year, she won a stage of the Vuelta España Femenina. She will be joined by Olivia Baril, who will make her Olympic debut. Silver medallist in the road race and the time trial at the 2023 Canadian Championships, Baril reached the podium during a stage of the 2024 Vuelta España Femenina.

After a strong season of international racing on the UCI Track Nations Cup circuit Canada is one of only three nations to qualify in every track cycling event, sending a full team of 14 athletes.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic sprint champion Kelsey Mitchell and Olympic keirin bronze medallist Lauriane Genest will look to repeat their strong performances in Paris. This time they will also compete in the team sprint alongside Sarah Orban.

“I am so excited to be heading to my second Olympic Games! The Tokyo Olympics was such an amazing experience and I will forever cherish those memories and the journey to becoming an Olympic champion,” said Mitchell. “And three years later, we are back to try and do it again. The journey to my second Olympics in Paris has been full of ups and downs. I grew a lot as a person and an athlete and I am excited to see where I am at when I get on the line. I am also looking forward to seeing my younger teammates experience their first Olympics and I know they will show up ready to represent Canada and themselves to the best of their ability. It is going to be an Olympics to remember!”

Nick Wammes will lend his Tokyo 2020 Olympic experience to teammates Tyler Rorke and James Hedgcock who will make their Olympic debuts in Paris. The trio, who won the gold medal in men’s team sprint at Santiago 2023, secured their ticket to Paris after winning bronze at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Milton, Ont. this spring.

Veterans Ariane Bonhomme and Michael Foley, who competed at their first Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020, will lead the women’s and men’s team pursuit squads with a group of teammates who will make their Olympic debuts. The endurance team features Dylan Bibic, who has continued to impress since becoming Canada’s first world champion in a men’s endurance event as he won scratch race gold in 2022. He won three gold medals during the 2024 UCI Track Nations Cup, including one in the omnium.

The quotas for BMX Freestyle will be announced on June 26. Canada is expected to receive a men’s quota spot. The selected athlete will be named at a later date.

Team Canada has won 16 Olympic cycling medals, including the two won at Tokyo 2020. BMX is the only cycling discipline in which Canada has not yet won an Olympic medal. Team Canada’s Paris 2024 cycling team includes eight athletes with previous Olympic experience and 13 Olympic rookies.

“We’re very excited to announce the team. Many of the riders are first-time Olympians. They will benefit greatly from teammates who have already been successful at the Olympics,” said Dan Proulx, Cycling Canada’s National Team Head Coach. “Anything is possible in Paris and I know each and every one of them is aiming to exceed expectations.”

BMX racing will take place August 1-2 (Day 6 to 7) at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium, while mountain bike races will take place on July 28 and 29 (Days 2 and 3) at the Elancourt Hill venue.

Road cycling begins with the individual time trials on July 27, with a start  at Les Invalides and an arrival at the Pont Alexandre III. “The road races will be held on August 3 and 4 (Day 8 and 9) in with the start and finish on Pont Léna in front of the Eiffel Tower. The courses head into the countryside southwest of Paris before looping back to a city-centre circuit that climbs over the iconic cobbled streets of Montmartre three times.” Track events will be held from August 5 to 11 (Day 10 to 16) at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Vélodrome.

‘’Whether on the road, in the mountains, or on the track, Team Canada cyclists have pedaled with unwavering determination to carve out a path at the front of the pack and proudly represent Canada at Paris 2024. I am honoured to accompany this group of experienced and passionate cyclists, always ready to surpass themselves. Go Canada, saddle up! Let’s race towards Olympic glory in Paris,‘’ said Bruny Surin, Team Canada’s Paris 2024 Chef de Mission.

Team Canada’s cycling team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games also includes the following:

Alternates
Teigen Pascual (Squamish, B.C.) – BMX Racing
Emilly Johnston (Comox, B.C.) – Mountain Bike
Carter Woods (Cumberland, B.C.) – Mountain Bike
Madgeleine Vallières-Mill (Sherbrooke, Que.) – Road
Simone Boilard (Quebec, Que.) – Road
Hugo Houle (Sainte-Perpetue, Que.) – Road
Guillaume Boivin (Montreal, Que.) – Road
Jackie Boyle (Toronto, Ont.) – Track Sprint
Ryan Dodyk (Edmonton, Alta.) – Track Sprint
Fiona Majendie (Vancouver, B.C.) – Track Endurance
Sean Richardson (Vancouver, B.C.) – Track Endurance