The young Canadian quartet of Brock Hoel, Sophia Howell, Mathis Beaulieu and Desirae Ridenour flirted, for a while, with a Canadian Olympic qualification in the mixed relay event on Friday. With one more relay to go, the maple leaf team was in second place at the World Cup in Huatulco, Mexico.
Everything then went into a tailspin and the team crossed the finish line in sixth place only to be disqualified from this race where Norway and the Netherlands secured their ticket to the French capital.
Story of a crazy race.
British Columbian Brock Hoel propelled his team to the lead in the race with Norway before passing the baton to Sophia Howell. The Albertan did not pass in the right place before diving into the water and although this lengthened her journey, this error led to the disqualification of her team, a decision that the country’s representatives only learned after the event. .
The third torchbearer, Mathis Beaulieu, from Quebec, kept his team in second place as he explained in an interview with Sportcom.
“I managed to get a little behind Casper Stornes in the swim and then, on the bike, I barely missed his wheel. He’s one of the best on bikes in the World Championship Series and I paid the price a little,” admitted the bronze medalist of the last Junior Worlds, who was around fifteen seconds behind when passing. the relay to Desirae Ridenour of British Columbia, who held a 51-second lead over third-place Hungary.
Canada then slipped in the rankings.
“We are extremely disappointed, but bad days happen. I think she [Ridenour] got a little sick the day before and she mentioned that she had vomited, so I think that played a little role,” continued Beaulieu, who did not throw the stone at his teammate, adding that he was proud of his team.
“We really believed in Olympic qualification and we were very close. […] The mistake we made was not to take a substitute with one of the girls who is doing the individual race like Dominika Jamnicky who is trying to qualify [individuellement] for the Games, in my opinion, we could have finished second comfortably or even gone for victory. But that didn’t happen. »
As in 2021, the highest-ranked Canadian athletes in the international rankings did not take part in the final Olympic relay qualifying race. Three years ago in Lisbon, Canada also had bad luck when Aiden Longcroft-Harris fell off his bike and the team did not obtain a ranking. History repeated itself this year.
Canada finally had its place in the mixed relay in Tokyo thanks to Amélie Kretz who had obtained a second place in the women’s individual event due to her world ranking at the end of the qualification process.
Mathis Beaulieu will therefore take his experience from Friday with a view to a first Olympic participation in Los Angeles, in four years.
He will be at the start of the individual sprint distance event in Huatulco on Sunday, just like his compatriot Filip Mainville.
The women will start on Saturday, Maïra Carreau is the only Quebecer registered in this race.