Keirin gold for Kelsey Mitchell on final day of competition at Milton Nations Cup

Sunday’s final day of competition at the Nations Cup in Milton, ON produced the gold that Canada–and Kelsey Mitchell–needed to complete a set of medals. Mitchell was the fastest in the keirin, adding a gold to her individual sprint silver and team sprint bronze.

Team sprint bronze medalist Lauriane Genest and double medalist Mitchell would follow the derny in the women’s keirin. Mitchell ran wild in her Heat 4, winning handily, and Genest was second in Heat 3.

In the second round both advanced, Genest second in Heat 2 and Mitchell third in Heat 1.

Best friends who race in finals together, stay together.

It was a close one, but both @_kmmitchell and Lauriane Genest are off to the women's Keirin final with their eyes on a double podium finish in front of a ? crowd! pic.twitter.com/BFzmOFoz8i

— Cycling Canada (@CyclingCanada) May 15, 2022

There were two Canadians and two Japanese riders in the 1-6 final. Just after Mitchell took the lead with two laps to go a crash took down Genest and two others. Mitchell stayed ahead of Germany’s Sophie Friedrich and Japan’s Mina Sota, but the celebrations were muted. Genest got gingerly to her feet and Yuka Kobayashi was taken from the track on a stretcher.

The final day at Milton started with men’s individual sprint qualifying. Ryan Dodyk, who raced the keirin on Saturday, and Nick Wammes were Canada’s entrants. Both did well, with Wammes achieving the fifth best time and Dodyk the sixth.

In the 1/16 finals, Wammes drew a rider from Trinidad and Tobago named Kwesi Browne, and Dodyk was set against Spaniard Juan Peralta. Both Canucks progressed.

The 1/8 finals matched Dodyk with Jeffrey Hoogland from the Netherlands and Wammes with Japan’s Kento Yamasaki, and neither Canadian could advance.

Bumping handlebars and fighting ? for the line.

It was a close one for Ryan Dodyk and @nick_wammes who wrapped up their #TissotNationsCup just missing the quarter finals in the men's Sprint.

Great weekend to you both ? pic.twitter.com/DHjEdgZTUo

— Cycling Canada (@CyclingCanada) May 15, 2022

Jackson Kinniburgh flew the maple leaf in the men’s omnium. He snagged 11th place in the scratch race and followed that up with 12th in the tempo race to sit 12th overall at the midway point.

Could Kinniburgh climb up the ladder in the strong>elimination race? Canadians had enjoyed a good weekend in elimination races within and without the omnium. Kinniburgh kept himself at the front of the pack at the beginning of the race. However, he was the seventh rider given the heave-ho and dropped down to 14th. Ineos Grenadiers’ omnium world champion Ethan Hayter took the event.

After finishing the points race with -20, Kinniburgh’s overall place was 21st.

The Canadians contesting the hour-long hand-slinging of the women’s madison were Sarah van Dam, sixth in Friday’s elimination race, and Lily Plante. They had 120 laps of the Siberian spruce to roll, with a sprint every ten laps. Italy was on a roll early. Italy, Australia and Ireland all hauled in 20 points for lapping the field. Unfortunately, the Canadian duo couldn’t secure any points, but they were 11th out of 15 teams.

The final Nations Cup is scheduled for Cali, Colombia July 7 to 10. The World Championships will be held October 12-16 in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.