Rio 2016 track cycling test event pushed back: reports

As the countdown to Rio 2016 looms—an Olympiad for which Canada’s athletes are currently competing to qualify in Hong Kong, with the track World Cup underway—there appear to be a few logistical headaches on the cycling front.

The velodrome that will serve as host for the track competitions of the 2016 Olympics, the CTV reports, is central to the issue.

Although the dates of the Olympics themselves—scheduled for Aug. 5-21, 2016—won’t be affected, organizers said, the date of the track cycling test event has been pushed back by a couple of months. The reason, they explained, is that preparations at the velodrome in Rio de Janeiro are running behind schedule. With the test event in track originally scheduled for March 18-20, a little over two months away, Rio 2016 officials are now saying that April 29-May 1 is more likely. Preparation for the Olympics got off to a slow start in Rio de Janeiro, but problems related to building new venues, reports said, have been relatively few.

In related news, Canadian cyclists turned in a strong performance in Hong Kong on Friday, with Jasmin Glaesser of Coquitlam, B.C. earning silver in the points competition of the track cycling World Cup. That event, of course, is an important qualifying event for global athletes in advance of the 2016 Olympics.