Canadians aim for gold at 2014 world track championships in Cali

Cycling Canada has sent a series of talented track specialists to compete at the UCI 2014 world track championships to be held Feb. 26 to March 2 in Cali, Colombia. The track team is aiming for top performances this week while maintaining its long-term focus on the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“As we continue building towards Rio, it’s encouraging to see that we continue creating depth in our programs and can field a competitive team, despite some of our top athletes not being present,” said Jacques Landry, high-performance director at Cycling Canada, in a press release. “With the Olympic qualification period afoot, Canada’s track team is definitely in a good position to perform in Rio when we factor in our ever increasing talent pool, top-level coach leadership and soon-to-be world-class facility in Milton, Ont., to train in.”

The women’s endurance team will include Jasmin Glaesser, Laura Brown, Steph Roorda, Allison Beveridge and Kirsti Lay. The women’s team pursuit squad won the overall title during the World Cup series this year, after winning gold in Guadalajara, and two silver medals, in Manchester and Aguascalientes. Cycling Canada will decide which riders will start the team pursuit, omnium and points race early this week.

The women’s team pursuit squad is aiming for the gold medal on Thursday. The women’s points race will be held on Saturday and the women’s omnium events will be split up between Saturday and Sunday.

Hugo Barrette will represent in the men’s sprint and keirin events on Thursday and Saturday.

Gillian Carlton and Joseph Veloce will be missing the world championships due to illness and injury.

The full world championships schedule can be viewed here.