Cycling Canada  – LOS ANGELES, February 25, 2017 – Canada had two teams qualify for the next round of competition at the World Cup Final in Los Angeles, California, on Friday evening.  The Women’s Team Sprint squad was fourth in qualifying and the Women’s Team Pursuit squad was third.

The Women’s Team Sprint duo of Kate O’Brien (Calgary, AB) and Amelia Walsh (Ayr, ON) were fourth in qualifying with a time of 34.093 seconds.  The top eight teams move on to the next round of competition, and Canada will race China on Saturday in the next round of competition.

“I’m pretty happy with the girls,” said Erin Hartwell, national sprint coach.  “Qualifying fourth, only a few hundredths out of third, so a win in the next round would put us in the medal round.

Photo Rob Jones/Canadian Cyclist (All Rights Reserved)
Media: Please contact Karine Bedard for image use.

In the Men’s Team Sprint, the squad of Hugo Barrette (Iles de la Madeleine, QC), Stefan Ritter (Edmonton, AB) and Patrice St-Louis-Pivin (Sherbrooke, QC) finished tenth with a time of 45.451 seconds and will not move forward in the competition.  They missed qualifying by less than three-tenths of a second.

“We’re a young team, so it’s a lot of ups and downs,” said Hugo Barrette.  “We all showed up with great legs but we probably could have executed the ride better.  We had an amazing ride last week [at the Cali World Cup], which gives me a lot of hope for the future, but for now there are some little things that we need to learn from.”

The Women’s Team Pursuit squad of Laura Brown (Vancouver, BC), Jasmin Duehring (Vancouver, BC), Kirsti Lay (Montreal, QC) and Steph Roorda (Vancouver, BC) finished third with a time of 4:25.651 seconds.  Canada still has an opportunity to race for gold on Saturday evening, based on their results in the next round on Saturday afternoon, when they race New Zealand.

Photo Rob Jones/Canadian Cyclist (All Rights Reserved)

“We didn’t really know what to expect,” said Craig Griffin, national women’s track endurance coach.  “This is the first time we have had Kirsti and Jasmin in the line-up since Rio [Olympics], so we didn’t know what to expect.  We got caught out a bit [trying to pass] the Poles [Poland] in the last kilometre.  We have plenty of room for improvement against the Kiwi’s tomorrow.”
 
About Cycling Canada
Cycling Canada is the governing body for competitive cycling in Canada. Founded in 1882, Cycling Canada aims to create and sustain an effective system that develops talented Canadian cyclists to achieve Olympic, Paralympic, and World Championship medal performances. With the vision of being a leading competitive cycling nation by 2020 celebrating enhanced international success, increased national participation and world class event hosting, Cycling Canada manages the High Performance team, hosts national and international events and administers programs to promote and grow cycling across the country. Cycling Canada programs are made possible through the support of its valued corporate partners – Global Relay, Lexus Canada, Mattamy Homes, Louis Garneau and Bear Mountain Resort – along with the Government of Canada, Own The Podium, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

 

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Source: Cycling Canada 
Information:
Karine Bedard l Cycling Canada l 613-248-1353 x 2617 l karine.bedard@cyclingcanada.ca