(Milton) After a fourth place in the exhilarating race by elimination the day before, Mathias Guillemette from Trifluvien lowered another personal mark in the individual pursuit of the Nations Cup in Milton, Saturday.
Posted yesterday at 4:11 p.m.
Guillemette clocked four minutes, 19.690 seconds (4:19,690), earning him 10and time of the event presented at the Mattamy National Cycling Center.
Although it was not enough to qualify, Guillemette had every reason to smile after the race dominated by the Germans Thomas Buck-Gramcko (4:06,232) and Nicolas Heinrich (4:07,974).
“I was going there more for a time than a position,” noted the 20-year-old athlete. The Germans are in a class of their own in individual pursuit. We can’t really race against them right now, so we’re going more for times. My goal was 4:19, so I’m very happy. »
His young teammate Chris Ernst also went there by a personal best in 4:17,712, good for eighth place, but also insufficient to continue his workday. It was the Australian James Moriarty in 4:13,932 who clocked the fourth and final time giving access to the medal round.
“I was hoping for a better time today, but in the end, it’s my best time by more than two and a half seconds,” noted the 22-year-old Ontarian. Like I was telling my coaches earlier, I can’t analyze this for too long, I have to be happy with it. »
“Both had a plan and executed it,” said coach Laura Brown, a bronze medalist in the team pursuit at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. above. But in terms of time, with two personal brands, we couldn’t ask for better. »
Family passion
Guillemette goes through the ranks that his brother, Tristan, went through before him. Except that the younger brother seems to want to climb the degrees two by two instead of one at a time.
Brown did not hesitate to praise his colt.
“He’s a great cyclist,” she said. To see what he did in the elimination race, it’s a remarkable performance. He’s still so young, the way he’s developing, he has a bright future. »
Guillemette, who also runs the omnium, the scratch and the team pursuit, is himself a little surprised at his progress.
“I thought my progress was going to take longer. It was a slower progression for my brother. It is sure that the mentality was different towards the new members of the team at the time. […] It surprised me this year to run all the Nations Cups. »
Cycling Canada seems to give more space to young cyclists. The dazzling progress of Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest, who joined the team just a few years before they stood on the podium at the Tokyo Games, surely helped to change mentalities.
“They give more opportunities to new riders, so more opportunities to progress,” said Guillemette. It’s inspiring to see girls like Lauriane and Kelsey progress so quickly. It also gives confidence in our coaches: if these girls were able to go from the top-10 to winning the Olympics so quickly, it means that our coaches know what they are doing. Two medals at the Games and the fifth place of the guys in pursuit, it’s huge. »
For now, Guillemette only thinks of the Olympics in terms of a team: he wants to help his teammates collect as many points as possible in order to secure as many places as possible for Canada in Paris. From a personal point of view, it is more the Worlds of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, next October, that he has in his sights.
Dodyk switches to keirin
In the other competitions presented in the morning, Albertan Ryan Dodyk won his qualifying round in the keirin to directly advance to the elimination rounds in the evening.
The course of Ontarian James Hedgcock, however, stopped at the repechage.
In the 500m time trial, Canadians Sarah Orban and Jackie Boyle missed qualifying by less than half a second. Orban and Boyle respectively concluded the session in 14and and 15and square. Only the first six positions obtained their qualification.