Canadian female cyclists came away with four World Cup track cycling medals this past weekend in Cambridge, New Zealand. Kelsey Mitchell of Brandon, Manitoba won the silver medal in the women’s sprint, Lauriane Genest of Montreal, Quebec won the silver medal in the women’s Keirin, Allison Beveridge of Calgary, Alberta won the bronze medal in the women’s Omnium, and Beveridge, Jasmin Duehring of Vancouver, British Columbia, Georgia Simmerling of Vancouver, British Columbia and Annie Foreman-Mackey of Kingston, Ontario won bronze in the women’s team pursuit.
In the women’s team pursuit on December 6, Canada placed behind the gold medalists from New Zealand and the silver medalists from Australia. Canada is in fifth place in the women’s team pursuit world rankings with 5495 points. Italy leads with 7510 points.
In the women’s sprint on Saturday, Mitchell beat Putri Dwi of Indonesia in the round of 16, Valles Salazar of Mexico in the quarterfinals and Daria Shmeleva of Russia in the semifinals before losing to Anastasiia Voinova of Russia in the gold medal match. Stephanie Morton of Australia won the bronze medal. Mitchell is now eighth in the world rankings in the women’s sprint with 2430 points. Wai Sze Lee of Hong Kong is the leader with 3650 points.
In the women’s Omnium on Sunday, Beveridge placed behind gold medalist Yumi Kajihara of Japan and silver medalist Jennifer Valente of the United States. Kirsten Wild of the Netherlands leads the world rankings in the women’s Omnium with 3530 points. Beveridge is fourth with 2657.5 points.
In the women’s Keirin on Sunday, Genest placed behind Hyejin Lee of South Korea. Morton won the bronze medal. Lee leads the world rankings in the Keirin with 3400 points. Genest is fifth with 2417.5 points. The medals for Mitchell, Genest, Beveridge, Duehring, Simmerling and Foreman-Mackey will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
