O’Brien impresses with fifth in sprint on Cali track World Cup’s second day

A day after placing seventh in the team sprint with teammate Amelia Walsh, Canadian Kate O’Brien had an impressive Saturday contesting individual sprint at the Cali, Colombian track World Cup, reaching the quarter finals. In action for the first time this season, Canada’s much-decorated women’s team pursuit squad posted the second fastest qualifying time.

O’Brien rolled the flying 200-metre qualifier with the fourth fastest time, 11.024 to German Kristina Vogel’s best time of 10.783. This meant O’Brien got to skip the 1/16 finals and head into the 1/8 finals where she beat Colombian Juliana Gaviria. In the quarterfinals O’Brien faced Gazprom’s Daria Shmeleva and the Russian prevailed.

Vogel won the gold, Shmeleva the bronze and O’Brien finished the event in fifth, her highest ever World Cup ranking.

The women’s team pursuit team picked up where it left off in the spring of 2016. Last season two golds and a silver earned Canada the World Cup. Bronze at Rio de Janeiro 2016 followed. On Saturday Stephanie Roorda, Laura Brown, Kinley Gibson and Ariane Bonhomme, matched up with Poland over 4-km, knocked France off the qualifying round’s hot seat with 4:25.705. Italy, growing in strength and confidence, eclipsed Canada with 4:25:070.

Canada faces Australia, who posted the third fastest time, Sunday in the first round.

Hugo Barrette was back on the boards after Friday’s team sprint efforts to follow the derney in the keirin. In Heat 1 of the first round Barrette finished just out of automatic qualification for the second round but had a chance making it in the repechage. Alas, it was Japan’s Tomoyuki Kawabata who went on from Heat 1 of the repechage.

On Sunday O’Brien’s in the women keirin, Bonhomme contests the points race, Stefan Ritter chases kilo glory and Barrette takes his own individual sprint journey.