Wrap up of the Canadian track championships’ final day in Milton

Sunday was the concluding day of the 2024 Canadian Track Cycling Championships at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre velodrome in Milton, Ont. It was a fine weekend for the recent winner of the UCI Track Champions League endurance category, Dylan Bibic, who earned three gold medals. Several riders, like Jenna Nestman and Kiara Lylyk, had multiple medals by the end of Sunday.

The action started with qualifying races. First, the elite men’s elimination qualifying put the majority of the contestants in the final. Dylan Bibic and Michael Foley (Toronto Hustle) went through while keeping their powder dry for the final.

There, Bibic was the last man standing out of 20 athletes. Waterline Racing’s Cameron Fitzmaurice from West Vancouver pulled the upset over Foley by claiming the bronze.

The elite men’s scratch qualifiers followed suit. This time Matthias Guillemette was able to join Bibic and Foley in the final. In the men’s scratch final Bibic was sixth, Foley snagged the gold, his teammate Zach Webster earned bronze and Campbell Parrish came runner-up.

In the elite women’s elimination final Ngaire Barraclough was the 17th to be pulled off the boards. Diane Snobelen of Cycle Capital went into the final three and added a bronze to her points race gold. Tesseract Racing’s Jenna Nestman, having already grabbed a gold and bronze on Saturday, outlasted Boneshaker/Orange Seal’s Kiara Lylyk for the title.

After the day’s recess, 19 elite chaps followed the derny in men’s keirin qualifying. Bibic, Nick Wammes, James Hedgcock and Ryan Dodyk didn’t need a repechage. All four also moved on to the final after the semi-final. Snobelen was among those who qualified for the final in the elite women’s keirin.

In the 1-6 final Hedgcock powered to the Canadian championship, Wammes sprinted to silver and Ryan Macdonald edged out Dodyk for bronze.

Lylyk bounced back from the elimination to claim gold in the elite women’s scratch. Snobelen took another medal with silver and Justine Thomas beat Nestman and Barraclough for the final podium spot.

The derby-launched action of the women’s keirin final was not to go Snobelen’s way. Jackie Boyle, representing the National Cycling Institute, got the gold, Québec’s Emy Savard finished 0.174 seconds later and Erica Rieder took home bronze.

Hand-slinging would conclude the weekend. First, the elite men’s madison saw Bibic and Guillemette team up to beat Toronto Hustle’s duo of Foley and Chris Ernst. Fitzmaurice and Sam Morris rounded out the podium.

Lylyk and Barraclough made a crack twosome in the elite women’s madison. They pounced on an early lead and fended off Québec duo Lily Plante and Maxim Lapointe. Nestman’s final medal of the championships was a bronze shared with Justine Thomas.