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Canada’s junior track athletes earn four medals at worlds

A world championship title, a silver and two bronze medals come home with Canadian athletes from Aigle, Switzerland

Canada’s junior track athletes capped off an impressive performance at the 2016 junior track world championships in Aigle, Switzerland on Sunday taking home a total of four medals. Having earned two medals including a world title on Friday, Canada continued its success earning two medals on the concluding day on Sunday, July 24. Stefan Ritter added to his world championship title in the 1000-metre time trial with bronze in the men’s sprint while Maggie Coles-Lyster took bronze in the women’s omnium.

RELATED: Canada earns gold and silver medals at junior track worlds in Switzerland

Ritter of Edmonton raced against Mateusz Milek of Poland for the bronze medal in the sprint winning in two straight rounds. In the gold medal race, Bradly Knipe of New Zealand defeated Conor Rowley of Australia for the gold medal. Ritter who became the first Canadian to win a junior world title on Friday in the 1000-m time trial said, “On this track it’s very hard to come from the back, so I went from the front. It was hard because it’s at the end of the worlds and a lot of racing; I did seven sprints today. But it’s pretty amazing to come away with two medals.”

“To win gold at worlds is simply amazing. Every cyclist dreams of pulling on the rainbow jersey and on Friday I got the pleasure of doing so,” said Ritter about his memorable worlds. “The fact that I’m junior kilo world champion still hasn’t fully set in yet. It is truly a remarkable feeling. [In the sprint] I knew I was one of the fastest in terms of raw speed, but I don’t have a lot of tactical experience at this level. For me to follow the kilo win up with bronze in the sprint was huge.”

Explaining his longer term goals, Ritter said he is targeting the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 but that there remains a lot of work to make that dream a reality.

RELATED: Ambitious Maggie Coles-Lyster working toward 2020 Olympics

In the women’s omnium, Maggie Coles-Lyster of Maple ridge, B.C. crashed midway through the points race, the final of six events, but was able to recover from the fall and take the bronze medal. Coles-Lyster was the top scoring rider in the points race moving to within four points of silver medalist Michaela Drummond. Italian Elisa Balsamo took the gold medal.

“I was third going into the points race, but there were other riders right behind me, so it was pretty close,” said Coles-Lyster who raced aggressively to collect maximum points in three of the first four sprints. “But I know there was a chance to move into the silver medal or possibly even the gold…Then I got caught in a crash in the middle of the race, but got back into the race and was able to get enough points to keep third. I’m really happy, because this was my first Worlds and I didn’t know what to expect.”

Canada’s other medal of the championships came courtesy of Devaney Collier of Edmonton who earned a silver medal in the women’s scratch race on Friday. The four medals is Canada’s best performance at the junior world championships and Ritter’s rainbow stripes are a junior track Canadian first.

“Today has epitomized our performances here in Aigle,” said Team Canada coach Ian Melvin, “Our kids have had to work hard for all of their rewards, they showed a lot of fight and determination. I’m thrilled to see us come home with four medals but beyond that, we’ve set personal bests and national records almost across the board. We couldn’t ask for anymore from these riders; I’m incredibly proud of them all.”

Jacques Landry the director of high performance at Cycling Canada elaborated on the “There is no secret to this success at these junior Track Worlds. The performances are due to talent being identified and nurtured in clubs and provinces, to eventually be prepped for international success. Hats off to the athletes, and to the coaching and support staff, for these great Worlds!”

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