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Neither Canadian team pursuit squad to contest medals at Milton Track World Cup

The men's men's team pursuit squad set a new Canadian record but fell short along with women's team of moving on to the medal round

Milton Track World Cup
October 26, 2018
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Neither Canadian team pursuit squad will contest a medal at the evening session at the Milton Track World Cup on Friday. After both teams medaled at last year’s edition, the field in 2018 was significantly deeper.

Impressively, Canada’s young men’s team pursuit squad still set another Canadian record when they were bested by Huub Wattbike Test Team in the morning session on Friday. The British team had qualified with the fastest time. The Canadians stopped the clock at 3:56.352 having beaten their own record in qualifying the evening before. However, the French squad who had qualified in sixth beat the Canadians time to contest the bronze medal against Great Britain. Denmark and Huub Wattbike Test Team will race for gold.

On Thursday evening, the Milton Track World Cup had gotten underway with the qualifying round with the women’s team moving on with the fifth fastest qualifying while the men moved on with the fourth fastest time.

Last year, the men’s squad earned a silver medal in Milton and set a new Canadian record. The team of Michael Foley, Derek Gee, Adam Jamieson and Jay Lamoureux went faster this year in their qualifying ride, stopping the clock in 3:56.931. The steady progression for the squad is very important as they pave their path to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“It was really exciting. We went out with an idea of a time, and this was at the lower end of the range,” said Foley after the qualifying ride. “Everyone’s riding well right now, so hopefully the boys will attack it in the next ride. I think we knew we had it in us, and we were pretty confident but, it’s one thing to think you have it in you, and another to actually do it. Even though it’s only a couple of seconds, it’s a big jump for us.”

Meanwhile, the women’s team which won gold last year will not contest a medal. Ariane Bonhomme, Annie Foreman-Mackey, Kinley Gibson and Stephanie Roorda qualified with the fifth fastest and did not put up a fast enough time in the second round on Friday morning to make it to the medal round. New Zealand and Germany will ride for bronze, and Italy and Great Britain will race for gold medal.

“Overall, we’re pretty happy with our qualifying ride,” said Gibson on Thursday evening. “We executed technically pretty well; historically, the first ride has been tough for us in execution. Today, everyone stepped up and did their job. The time was pretty much right what we were shooting for; we’re trying some new stuff this year and this was a bit of a trial, so we are happy with the time.”