October 24/21 16:47 pm - Mitchell 5th on Final Day of Track Worlds

Posted by Editoress on 10/24/21
 

Kelsey Mitchell was the top performing Canadian rider on the Sunday at the Track World Championships in Roubaix, France, finishing fifth in the Women's Keirin, while Lauriane Genest was tenth. Both Mitchell and Genest had to win their repechage heats to make it past the first round, with Mitchell making it into the medal final and Genest the 7-12 small final. The only other Canadian competing on the final day of competition was Maggie Coles-Lyster in the Women's Points Race. Coles-Lyster finished fourth in Scratch Race earlier in the week, but could only manage 12th in the talent-stacked field for the Points Race.

Kelsey Mitchell

Maggie Coles-Lyster

Photo Gallery

"I'm leaving Roubaix and my first Elite Track World Championships having both exceeded my expectations and hungry for more," said Coles-Lyster. "Two fourth place finishes in both the Scratch Race and the Team Pursuit, and a 12th place finish in the Points Race in one of the hardest, fastest track races I've done to date. Lots of takeaways from these races and work to be done but looking forward to giving the body a short break ahead of an exciting new opportunity coming up soon!"

The officials also quietly reinstated Canada in the results for the Women's Team Sprint. They had set the third fastest time in both qualifying and the first round, but were relegated when officials decided Kelsey Mitchell - Canada's second rider - had not moved fully out of the sprinter's lane when the final rider started to pass her. They would have been in the bronze final against Great Britain, whose times they had beaten twice. Franck Durivaux took responsibility for the error, but also reviewed the rules and went back to the officials asking how Canada had actually broken the rules. The officials then admitted that Canada had not broken the rules, so they weren't relegated. Of course, it was too late to do anything about the medal race, but they slid Canada in at fifth place.

Although the full list of attendees has not yet been announced for the new UCI Champions League series, it looks like four Canadians will be taking part at this point - Kelsey Mitchell, Lauriane Genest and Hugo Barrette in the sprint program, and Maggie Coles-Lyster in the endurance program. There may actually be more when the UCI releases the final list of participants.

Photo Gallery

Track World Championships: Day 5 results

Coles-Lyster 4th on First Day of Track Worlds

Canada Shows Strength on Day 2 of Track Worlds

Canada Wins Bronze on Day 3 of Track Worlds

Gee 10th in Omnium at Track Worlds