Big weekend for Canadian cross and track racers
Whitten takes gold, Bell silver at track World Cup
It was a successful weekend for Canadian riders, highlighted by Edmonton’s Tara Whitten taking gold in the women’s omnium at the UCI Track Cycling world Cup event in Beijing Sunday. A day earlier, Zach Bell took silver in the men’s omnium. With only one event remaining on the World Cup tour, both Canadians are leading the overall standings.
“I am really happy. This is actually my first individual World Cup win, so this is pretty exciting for me. This is my last World Cup prior to the worlds, so it is great to leave the 2011 World Cup on a high note” said Whitten, who will skip the final event in Manchester to focus on training for the World Championships. Whitten has a nearly uncatchable 12-point lead in the overall standings. “I definitely feel more pressure knowing that I am capable of winning and have won this event, but at the same time I take a lot of confidence knowing I already won before. [Entering the season] I wasn’t really thinking about the overall World Cup title. I’m really excited to be in a position to win it, but the main goal of the season was certainly to put myself in a good position for Olympic qualifications, and I have done that. I am really happy about that.”
Bell, meanwhile, took silver in the men’s omnium Saturday and has now won medals in the discipline in each of the three World Cup stops. He now also leads the overall World Cup standings. The Canadian track cycling team will now head back to Los Angeles to continue their training, focusing on the World Championships being held in Apeldoorn, Holland in March.
CYCLOCROSS
Natasha Elliott, of St. Andrews, Ontario finished 26th at the final World Cup stop of the season in Hoogerheide, Netherlands. She will be one of six Canadians competing in the 2011 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in St. Wendel, Germany next weekend. All six were racing in Hoogerheide.
“I am very happy overall with the result,” said Elliott. “I definitely felt I was racing hard. It feels good heading to Worlds next week to know that the legs are good. I just need a little fine tuning now.”
In the men’s elite race, Derrick St-John of St. Andrews, finished 55th position while Craig Richey, of Smithers, B.C, came in 56th. In the junior men’s race, Karl Hoppner of Carp, Ontario finished 34th. “It’s a good result to have before the week before World championships. I’ll be going to Germany with confidence. Today, the conditions were soft, and not too slippery. It’s definitely hard on the legs.”
Yohan Patry of St-Jérome, Quebec, finished the gruelling race 45th while Benjamin Perry of St. Catharines, Ontario finished 51st.
