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Kelsey Mitchell sprints into Worlds semi-finals in Berlin

Despite setting national record twice, bronze eludes Canadian women's team pursuit squad

February 27, 2020
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After mild disappointment at missing out on a chance to race for a team sprint medal on Wednesday’s opening day of competition at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin, Kelsey Mitchell powered into the individual sprint final four on Thursday. The Canadian women’s team pursuit squad was in the bronze medal match with Germany, but lost after leading over the first 3-km.

Mitchell was one of three Canadian women who faced sprint qualifying early on Thursday. Alongside team sprint partner Lauriane Genest, Mitchell missed out on the medal round by 0.07 seconds on Wednesday, but on Thursday Genest was the sixth fastest, Mitchell the seventh and Sarah Orban, in her first Worlds, was 27th. All three advanced to the next round.

It must have been a little awkward for Genest and Orban to match up in the 1/16 finals, where Genest prevailed. Mitchell dispatched Japan’s Riyu Ohta. In the 1/8 finals Mitchell was faster than Brit Katy Marchand, but Genest couldn’t get past cagey Lithuanian vet Simona Krupeckaite.

Mitchell, who was Team Canada’s number one medal winner in this season’s World Cup, took on German Lea Friedrich in the quarter finals and took two victories in a row. She must wait until Friday for the semis, where she faces Russian Anastasiia Voinova.

On Wednesday the Canadian women broke the national team pursuit record with a time of 4:12:728 over 4 km while posting the third fastest time of 12 squads to pit them against the Brits in the first round. Although they lost by 0.238-seconds, Allison Beveridge, Jasmin Duehring, Georgia Simmerling and Annie Foreman-Mackey broke the Canadian record again with 4:12.627 and posted the fourth fastest time of the round. They would go up against the Germans for the bronze.

Leading the Germans by over a second after 3-km, the Canadians couldn’t hang on and eventually lost by over seven seconds. World championships medalists from 2012 to 2016, the women’s team pursuit squad has gone home empty handed four years in a row. Team U.S.A. took home the gold.