Canadian women’s team pursuit squad wins World Cup gold

The Canadian women’s team pursuit squad won the gold medal at the opening day of the third UCI track cycling World Cup held on Friday in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The four-rider team that included Allison Beveridge, Laura Brown, Jasmin Glaesser and Stephanie Roorda won the 4000-m event, beating the U.S. team during the gold medal round. The American team included Cari Higgins, Jennifer Valente, Lauren Tamayo and Jade Wilcoxson.

The Australian team secured the bronze medal and the Polish team settled for fourth place.

The Canadians went into the gold medal round as the favourites having won the qualifying round with a time of 4:23:828 minutes, seven seconds ahead of the U.S. team.

With the first-place finish, Canada collects 300 points for the World Cup win. They conclude the World Cup series with a total of 840 points, putting them in first. Australia is second with 720 points overall; the U.S. third with 706.

Glaesser told Canadian Cycling Magazine earlier this week that the women’s team pursuit squad was aiming for a strong performance at the third World Cup, ahead of the world championships held from Feb. 26 to Mar. 2 in Cali, Colombia.

Canadian team

Women’s Events:

Laura Brown – Team Pursuit Steph Roorda – Team Pursuit Jasmin Glaesser – Team Pursuit

Allison Beveridge – Team Pursuit, Omnium

Men’s Events:

Hugo Barrette – Sprint, Keirin

Joseph Veloce – Sprint