Canadian Olympic gold medalist Kelsey Mitchell of Brandon, Manitoba won a bronze medal in the International Cycling Union (UCI) Track Champions League in Paris, France on Saturday. Mitchell placed third in the women’s Keirin.
Steffie Van Der Peet of the Netherlands won the gold medal. Mathilde Gros of France won the silver medal. Mitchell won the second heat to advance to the final. She is now in third place in the 2022 UCI Track Cycling Women’s Sprint Champions League standings with 73 points. Gros is the leader with 83 points and Martha Bayona Pineda of Colombia is in second with 74 points.
Mitchell won the gold medal in the women’s sprint at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. At the age of 29, she continues to be one of the top women’s track cyclists in the entire world.
Canada won two more medals in the UCI Track Cycling Champions League in Paris on the weekend. Mathias Guillemette of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec won the silver medal in the men’s elimination race, and Maggie Coles-Lyster of Maple Ridge, British Columbia won bronze in the women’s elimination race. However, it should be noted that the elimination race, is not part of the Olympic program, while the Keirin is. That is why Mitchell is more of a contender for a medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
