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Double gold medals for Canada’s track team at Cali Nations Cup

Women's team pursuit and men's sprint squads lead a four-medal Day 1 for Canadians in Colombia

Photo by: Tissot TrackLive

The Nations Cup is just barely underway in Cali, Colombia and already Canada’s track cyclists are adding to their 2021 medal haul.

After an incredible Olympics, where Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest both stepped on the podium in Tokyo, the junior team brought home more hardware from junior track world championships.

Now, it’s the sprint and pursuit team’s turn to collect medals. The women led off, taking gold in the women’s team pursuit. A short while later, the men added silver. The evening concluded with another gold, for the men’s team sprint, and bronze for the women’s team sprint.

Gold and Silver in Team Pursuit

Erin Attwell, Sarah Van Dam, Ngaire Barraclough and Lily Plante took to the boards for the women’s team pursuit final. The Canadians easily beat Poland, overtaking them early on to win the gold medal match. In the race for bronze, the Colombian team out-dueled Germany to take the final medal for the home crowd.

A short while later, Canada’s men’s team pursuit squad faced the Colombians, racing on their home track, in the gold medal round. The Canadians started well, but were caught on the final lap when the team became separated on track. Michael Foley, Jackson Kinniburgh, Mathias Guillemette and Sean Richardson earn silver for Canada.

Gold and Bronze in Team Sprint

Hugo Barrette, Nick Wammes, Ryan Dodyk made for a golden end to Canada’s first day in Cali, winning the men’s team sprint event. The Canadian’s took advantage of some slight separation in the Colombian squad early on, edging out the home nation by 0.011 seconds. The Canadians take gold in a finishing time of 43.748 seconds. More than gold, the men’s team also re-set the Canadian record twice on their way to the podium.

In the women’s team sprint, Poland exacted a bit of revenge for the Team Pursuit result. The Polish team knocked out the Canadian squad in the qualifying round to advance to the gold medal match against Colombia. It would be the Colombians taking home gold, though, in another win for the home team.

In the Bronze medal match, Canada’s Erin Attwell, Jackie Boyle and Sarah Orban held off the Malaysian team to take the bronze medal. Added to her team pursuit gold, that makes an impressive two medals in one evening for Attwell in Cali.

You can watch replays of all four events through the UCI.

Live timing, schedule and results from Cali Nations Cup are available through UCI and Tissot.

Cali Nations Cup is the final round of Nations Cup series. The 2021 UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the next major track event, running from October 20-24.