Kelsey Mitchell of Edmonton, Alberta won two medals this past weekend in a track cycling World Cup event in Milton, Ontario. Mitchell won the gold medal in the women’s team sprint with Lauriane Genest of Montreal, Quebec on Friday and silver in the women’s sprint on Saturday. Team Canada won two other bronze medals in the team pursuit (men and women) on Friday.
In the women’s team sprint, Mitchell and Genest posted a time in the final of 33.012 seconds. Poland’s Marlena Karwacka and Urszula Los posted a silver medal winning time of 33.285 seconds. Lithuania’s Simona Krupeckaite and Migle Marozaite of Lithuania won the bronze medal.
In the women’s sprint final, Mitchell was beaten to the finish line twice by Laurine van Riessen of the Netherlands. Mitchell had a time of 11.415 seconds in the first women’s sprint final race and a time of 11.614 seconds in the second women’s sprint final race. van Riessen’s times were 11.326 seconds in the first race and 11.467 seconds in the second race. Madalyn Godby of the United States won the bronze medal. Mitchell is seventh in the rankings with 2380 points. Wai Sze Lee of Hong Kong leads with 3650 points.
In the women’s team pursuit, the Canadian team comprised of Devaney Collier and Kinley Gibson of Edmonton, Alberta, Erin Attwell of Victoria, British Columbia and Miriam Brouwer of Burlington, Ontario. The Canadian team had a time of four minutes, 24.234 seconds to beat Belgium by 1.407 seconds. Belgium had a fourth place time of four minutes, 25.641 seconds. The United States won gold and France won silver. Canada is third in the world rankings with 1947.5 points. Germany is the leader with 3255 points.
In the men’s team pursuit, the Canadian team comprised of Jackson Kinniburgh of Calgary, Alberta, Evan Burtnik of Edmonton, Alberta, Chris Ernst of Kitchener, Ontario and Amiel Flett-Brown of Vancouver, British Columbia had a bronze medal winning time of four minutes and .945 seconds. Belarus had a fourth place time of four minutes, 1.552 seconds. France won the gold medal and Italy won the silver medal. Canada is in eighth in the rankings with 4720 points. Italy leads with 6615 points.
The medals for Mitchell, Genest, Collier, Gibson, Attwell, Brouwer, Kinniburgh, Burtnik, Ernst and Flett-Brown will give them confidence as they prepare to make the Canadian Olympic track cycling team for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.