After covering herself with silver in Glasgow at the end of April, Lauriane Genest this time got her hands on the bronze medal on Thursday in the team sprint event at the Coupe of Nations, held in Milton, Ontario. Genest and her teammates Kelsey Mitchell and Sarah Orban beat the Brits in their last duel to take third place on the podium.
Posted yesterday at 11:27 p.m.
“It was really difficult today (Thursday)! My legs were heavy at the start of the day, but the more the competition progressed, the fitter I felt. It’s really encouraging, we have improved a lot from race to race. We know we can be even stronger despite our good result,” mentioned the Quebecer in an interview in the mixed zone after the race.
Genest, Mitchell and Orban were quick in qualifying, taking the provisional lead during their time on the track. Only the Germans and the Dutch finally managed to get ahead of the Canadians thereafter.
In the first round, Canada managed to defeat Austria to advance to the medal round. Their time of 47.848s was however not enough to reach the grand final as the Dutch (47.229s) and Germans (46.834s) were faster. The latter finally climbed to the top step of the podium.
In the women’s team pursuit, Team Canada A of Quebec’s Ariane Bonhomme, Ngaire Barraclough, Sarah Van Dam and Devaney Collier finished fourth after being defeated in the bronze final by the Americans.
The two countries traded the lead throughout the race, but the Americans were explosive in the final laps to secure their bronze medal. In the grand final, Italy won gold by virtue of their victory over the Australians.
In the afternoon, Bonhomme’s team was the fastest, finishing first in qualifying, 0.570 seconds ahead of the Americans. The representatives of the maple leaf however were beaten in the following round by the Australians.
For her part, Lily Plante and her teammates Erin Attwell, Fiona Majendie and Ruby West, who represented Team Canada B, placed sixth in the team pursuit. After qualifying, Plante and her teammates won their duel against Switzerland, but their finish time was not enough to advance to the final rounds.
“We are a developing team, we had never really driven together. It was an opportunity to gain experience for us. We are really proud of what we have been able to do. Technically, everything went well, we are not the fastest team, but we are very satisfied with our performance”, commented Plante after the race.
On the men’s side, Mathias Guillemette rolled in the first round with the Canada A squad. Guillemette and his teammates stopped the clock at 3:57.282 and took fifth place.
In a hard-fought final, Australia won the gold medal ahead of Italy while the Germans won the bronze medal final ahead of New Zealanders.
By riding in Milton, Canadian cyclists had the chance to reconnect with their supporters, something that has become rare over the past two years. The parents of Lily Plante have also made the journey of more than seven hours between Bromont and Milton to see their daughter in competition for the first time since 2019.
“I was so happy to be able to ride in front of them! It had been a long time since they had come to see me run, it really made me happy. It’s fun to be in action at home,” concluded the 20-year-old athlete.
Lauriane Genest will be back in action on Friday in the individual sprint while Adèle Desgagnés and Ariane Bonhomme will participate in the individual pursuit.
Lily Plante and Mathias Guillemette will return to action over the weekend.