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Canadian men’s team pursuit squad earns best Olympic Games result in 89 years

Fifth is top finish since Los Angeles 1932

Photo by: Sirotti

It didn’t really matter what Vincent de Haître, Michael Foley, Derek Gee and Jay Lamoureux achieved on Wednesday’s third day of Tokyo Olympic Games track cycling–whether or not they beat Germany for fifth or finished sixth, their result would be the best Olympic Canadian men’s team pursuit result in 89 years. However, they prevailed against the Germans again to finish the Olympic Games with fifth place. Canadians Lew Rush, Glen Robbins, Russ Hunt and Frank Elliot came fourth in Los Angeles 1932. In the fourth modern Olympic Games, London 1908, Canada won bronze.

The quartet was the first Canadian men’s team to make it to the Olympic Games since Montréal 1976. On Monday the foursome posted the sixth fastest qualifying time, then on Tuesday it broke the Canadian record while beating Germany with a time of 3:46.769.

On Wednesday de Haître, Foley, Gee and Lamoureux returned to the boards of Izu Velodrome to vie for fifth, once more facing the Germans.

Canada took the lead in the first 500 metres and by the kilometre mark the gap was 1.1 second. De Haitre peeled off after pulling the gang. The remaining trio not only kept the Germans at bay, but also increased its lead.

Bronze went to Australia, aided by a Kiwi crashing early in the match up. In a thrilling gold medal match, the Italians came back in the final lap against the Danes to win and set yet another world record time with 3:42.032.