Medal News at the Panamerican Track Championships

The first day of racing at the Panamerican Track Championships started in fine form with Monique Sullivan winning a silver medal in the 500 meter time trial. Sullivan set a personal best in the 500 meters at the World Championships and then set a new personal best yesterday in Mexico by .6 seconds to finish with a time of 34.76 seconds. “I am really happy with my 500 result. I didn’t have any expectations coming into this race but it is a fast track and I am glad that I was able to maximize my effort and beat my personal best by over half a second. Lori-Ann Muenzer’s Canadian record is my next goal and I am getting close!” says Sullivan.

Canadians Joseph Veloce, Travis Smith, and Stephane Cossette competed in the Men’s Team Sprint. After starting well, a blown rear tire put the Canadians a bit behind. But 10 minutes later, with a new rear wheel and a fixed chain, the Canadian trio were in the start blocks again. Veloce posted a respectable 18.1 opening lap but overall the first ride had taken a massive toll on the riders. In the end the team rode a 45.487 to qualify third and go on to race Trinidad and Tobago for the bronze. In the final, Veloce had a stunning start of 17.6 seconds catching Smith by surprise. He had to catch up by accelerating in the second half of the lap making Cossette’s job harder and the team finished in 4th.

Daniele Defranceschi and Jean-Michel Lachance raced the 40 km Points Race where Lachance was able to lap the field by the middle of the race and came 4th in the final sprint to finish result 12th overall. Defranceschi was very active and tried to launch a massive attack, but was unable to recover properly in the hot Velodrome and did not finish.

There is more racing today with:
Men’s Individual Pursuit: Mark MacDonald and Jean-Michel Lachance
Men’s Scratch Race: Mark MacDonald and Remi Pelletier-Roy
Men’s Keirin: Stephane Cossette and Joseph Veloce
Women’s Team Pursuit: Laura Brown, Steph Roorda, Monique Sullivan