Canadian women’s team pursuit squad wins gold in Cali, Colombia
It was gold for Canada at the end of Friday’s first day of competition at the UCI World Cup track cycling event in Cali, Colombia, with the vaunted women’s team pursuit squad beating the USA in the final. The Canadians also qualified with the fastest time earlier in the day. The last time Canada won a World Cup gold was in January 2014 in Guadalajara, Mexico, when a very similar women’s team pursuit lineup also defeated the Americans.
#CaliTWC Very impressive performance by Canada in the women's team pursuit to win gold.
— Peloton Watch (@PelotonWatch) October 31, 2015
Jasmin Glaesser, Stephanie Roorda, Kristi Lay and Allison Beveridge started the day by posting the high mark of qualifying with 4:21.359 over 4-km, nipping the Brits by less than .4 of a second. The Americans had the best time of the first round with 4:21.508 to face the Canadians in the final. The Brits took the bronze in this first round of the World Cup.
Last year the women had a World Cup silver and bronze before winning bronze at the World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.
The women’s team sprint duo of Monique Sullivan and Kate O’Brien also had a good qualifying time of 33.726, but their 8th ranking wasn’t enough to go any further.
On the men’s side, the team pursuit quartet of Ed Veal, Aidan Caves, Sean MacKinnon and Adam Jamieson was 12th in qualifying, stopping the clock at 4:05.535. Russia would take the gold over Switzerland in the final. Caves would later come 10th in the points race.
Evan Carey, Joseph Veloce, and Joel Archambault represented Canada in the men’s team sprint. Their 15th placing in qualifying could not advance them.
Competition continues Saturday with Sullivan looking for sprint success, Beveridge hoping to replicate her scratch medal in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, and both Glaesser and Veal starting their omnium journeys.
