Track Cycling World Championships | “It’s going to be war”

A look at the World Track Cycling Championships, which begin on October 12 near Paris, where the Canadian women could win many medals.

Nicholas Richard
The Press

The Canadian women’s track cycling team has been raising standards since the last Olympic Games. The 2022 season could end in euphoria, as cyclists prepare to compete in decisive World Championships.

A year after the Games, the maple leaf is in an excellent position to bring home several medals at the end of the 2022 Worlds presented in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, in France, from October 12.

With Kelsey Mitchell, Lauriane Genest or Sarah Orban added for the team event, the question is no longer whether there will be a Canadian on the podium, but where she will be on the podium.

Finish strong

The Worlds will be the last major competition of the year, if we exclude the Champions League later this fall.

This will be the most important meeting since the Tokyo Olympics and the competition will be extremely tough, according to Canadian cyclists.

In an interview with The PressQuebecer Lauriane Genest, Olympic bronze medalist, did not go through four paths.

For her part, Mitchell is the woman to beat this season and she knows she will be under pressure to win. That’s good, because that’s his only goal. “I have no other expectation than to win. »

For Sarah Orban, who is making her mark more in the team sprint event alongside Genest and Mitchell, it’s more about racing to match their talent. This group is so talented and efficient that she only wants the athletes to perform as they are capable of: “We work so hard that we hope that our efforts will be rewarded. »

A remarkable season

The face of Canadian track cycling changed after Genest’s and Mitchell’s medals in Tokyo. This year, at the four major competitions the Canadians have taken part in, including the Nations Cup in Glasgow, Scotland and Milton, Ontario, as well as the Commonwealth Games in England and the Pan American Championships in Peru, they won 16 medals.

“At the start of the season I said I wanted a medal in every race I was going to, although I know that’s a huge goal, but I almost got it,” Mitchell said. which has drawn a blank on one occasion. Of the 16 medals, the reigning Olympic champion in the sprint won 9 solo and 4 as a team.

His roommate Laurianne Genest also makes a positive assessment of his season. Especially since she got off to a flying start with four medals in the first two Nations Cups. The 24-year-old Lévisienne, however, experienced a small trough during the summer.

“I was not in the shape of my life at all for the Commonwealth Games,” she said. I didn’t feel like I had the ability to perform at all, because my legs just weren’t there. So it becomes harder to execute, because no matter how hard you want, the legs don’t follow. »

The cyclists had to deal with a fairly significant change in the schedule when the Pan American Sports Organization moved the Championships, which disrupted the preparation for the Commonwealth Games. Genest admits that this reversal affected her.

“At the Commonwealth Games, I even thought that I would be better at home training for the World Championships. I was like in a constant debate between shopping and gaining experience, and the next day, I didn’t want to be there,” she recalls with a laugh.

She now says she is ready to attack the Worlds. She has never been so motivated this season. “I see the improvement since we started preparing in mid-August. I am still quite confident physically. »

As there is strength in numbers, Canada posted an impressive performance in the team races. At each competition, the trio climbed on the podium in the sprint. “The dynamics and the chemistry are really great. We constantly motivate ourselves to give the best of ourselves and I think that’s what makes us a very strong team,” explained Orban.

Mitchell is certain: “Canada is now a power” and they will try to prove it at the Worlds.

Life after an Olympic medal

Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest made Canadian Olympic history with their prowess at the Tokyo Olympics. A little over a year later, the two cyclists have very different visions of what the other side of the coin means.

In Japan, Genest won the bronze medal in the keirin event. Her best friend Kelsey Mitchell won gold in the sprint. They became the first Canadian medalists in track cycling in 17 years. Mitchell became only the second gold medalist in history and Genest the first to shine in the keirin.

Since then, the two shine on the international scene. These medals not only introduced them to the big leagues, but they gave them confirmation that they were there for good.

Today, the two athletes have a different view of the impact their feat had.

First, Lauriane Genest says she never felt the pressure to win at all costs. “We were just talking about it this week with Kelsey, she said at the outset, since the two teammates live together, and I really realize that the performance pressure is on Kelsey, just because his medal is gold. and me in bronze. »

The 24-year-old athlete does not diminish what she has accomplished, on the contrary, she is proud of it and looks at her medal which hangs in her room every day. This is what motivates her daily.

Genest has done much more than that this season. She won three medals in individual events and four in team.

She does not hide, however, that she would have preferred to bite her medal on the top step of the podium in Tokyo, but she does not envy the pressure with which her roommate must live because of having won Olympic gold. “I don’t think I would have been ready to negotiate as well as Kelsey with outside pressure. I think that would have hurt me more than anything. »

She wants to take advantage of this Olympic cycle which will lead to the Paris Games in 2024 to gain experience. The 24-year-old athlete already notices that she is “stronger physically, mentally and tactically”. “So I don’t see why it couldn’t happen again. »

Change of perception

Mitchell has inherited a title coveted by all athletes on the planet, that of Olympic champion.

For the 28-year-old Albertan, it was confirmation that she was in the right place.

She feels that with this triumph, she has gained more respect from other athletes and other nations. This respect also came from the fact that she managed to reach the top of her discipline, even though she started track cycling at 23 and took part in her first ever competition in 2018. Her rise was dazzling. And since then, she breaks everything. This season, she has won 13 medals.

“I never doubted that I could be competitive on the international scene and there we see it with my podiums this season. The others know that I can be a threat. I like being in this position, ”she said.

Good for the team

Their teammate Sarah Orban witnesses, on a daily basis, the contribution that these two tenors of their discipline can have on the performance and the morale of the troops.

“They are some of the best athletes in our sport, so it takes our team to another level and I learn a lot from them. »

She also points out that this is a real chance for her to be able to learn from Mitchell and Genest, who have proven that with hard work comes rewards. “It’s a privilege that not all countries have. It makes our team even better. I feel super lucky to be able to train with them every day and it pushes me to be even faster. »

Mitchell also believes that with being an Olympic champion inevitably comes a responsibility to guide the other cyclists on the team. “Now I have a bigger leadership role. […] people see me more as a leader and maybe pay more attention to what I do and what I say. »