St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, FRA (Aug. 6, 2024) – Canadian riders officially broke the ice in the track events of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as the men’s and women’s team pursuit and men’s and women’s team sprint events took place on August 5 and 6 at the Vélodrome national de St-Quentin-en-Yvelines on the outskirts of Paris.
The young Canadian quartet of Mathias Guillemette, 22, from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, and Ontarians Carson Mattern, 20, from Ancaster, Dylan Bibic, 21, from Mississauga, and Michael Foley, 25, from Milton, clocked 3:49.245 in the first round of the Men’s Team Pursuit.
“We didn’t really have a choice but to try and get to the bronze final. At the Olympics, you have to at least try,” commented Guillemette. Teammate Foley added: “We wanted to push the level as far as possible. I think we pushed it a bit too far, we all finished with empty tanks, so this is the best way to finish. I think tomorrow we’ll do our best with the time and see if we can beat the Canadian record, and hopefully that’ll be good enough for seventh place.”
They’ll be back on Aug. 7 for the ranking waves, to determine their final placing between 7th and 8th, where they’ll face Belgium.
Ariane Bonhomme of Gatineau, Quebec, along with British Columbians Maggie Coles-Lyster of Maple-Ridge and Erin Attwell and Sarah Van Dam of Victoria, qualified for the first round of the Women’s Team Pursuit on August 7 with a time of 4:12.205.
“It was good to get it out of the way, we were all nervous getting into it,” said Attwell. “We faced a lot of adversity this week, so getting through and battling in rounds tomorrow, I think we’re all pleased with that. It doesn’t matter how today’s ride went, no one should count us out. We just need all pieces to come together.
Women’s Team Pursuit – Maggie Coles-Lyster, Sarah van Dam, Erin Attwell, Ariane Bonhomme
Photo Credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
The women’s team sprint trio, where Quebec’s Lauriane Genest of Lévis and Alberta’s Sarah Orban of Calgary and Kelsey Mitchell of Sherwood Park were in action on the first day of competition, placed eighth with a time of 46.816s, setting a new Canadian record in the process.
“We have all the right people, it’s just that it wasn’t prioritized as an event en route to the Games,” said Genest. “We decided to really give it our all on the second run, and that’s what we did. The track is fast, we’re just not competitive in that event.”
Setting a new world record with a time of 45.338s, Great Britain took gold, while New Zealand and Germany took silver and bronze respectively.
After qualifying in eighth place in the men’s team sprint on August 5, Ontario’s Nick Wammes, Tyler Rorke and James Hedgecock had the tough task of facing the world’s best in the first round, where the Dutch twice shattered their own world record, with a time of 40.949, becoming the first team in the world to break the 41-second barrier.
“Nick (Wammes) was the only one of the three of us to compete in Tokyo, James (Hedgecock) and I weren’t even old enough to compete back then,” said Rorke, who is 21. “For our age, I think we have a lot of potential for the next few years. We just need experience; a lot of the teams have been riding together for years and years; we’ve been riding together for two and a half years. The next couple of years, if we can get more experience together, I think we’ve got a good shot at improving.”
It was in the ranking wave, against China, that Canada fell to eighth place with a time of 43.944s. The Netherlands took top honors, followed by Great Britain and Australia with silver and bronze.
More information, including results and the full schedule of events, is available at olympics.com. Competition for Team Canada cyclists continues on August 7, where the team pursuit rounds will continue, while athletes will be in action in the individual events, including the women’s keirin and men’s sprint.
About Cycling Canada
Cycling Canada is one of the oldest national sport organizations in Canada and has one simple purpose: to inspire Canadians to cycle. Cycling Canada administers programs to promote and grow cycling across the country, hosts national and international events and manages the National Team in all levels of international competition.