Canada claims team pursuit bronze at cycling worlds
Canada got on the board at Track Cycling World Championships in France on Thursday with a bronze medal in women’s team pursuit.
The foursome of Allison Beveridge, Jasmin Glaesser, Kirsti Lay and Stephanie Roorda set a Canadian record time of 4:17.799, beating New Zealand for third place behind Australia and Great Britain.
“I was disappointed in our performance yesterday,” Glaesser said in a Cycling Canada release about finishing third in qualifying and losing to Great Britain in heats the day prior, before securing the bronze medal. “We made some technical errors that didn’t show what we could do out there. So, I think we came back today and redeemed ourselves a little bit.”
Bronze medal-winning team of (L-R) Beveridge, Glaesser, Lay and Roorda (photo: Rob Jones/Canadian Cyclist).
The Brits beat Canada by less than a second in a closely contested race (4:16.975 to 4:17.795), which has become the norm when the two nations compete in women’s team pursuit.
In 2014, the women riding under the Union Jack beat the maple leaf nation in another close race to the gold medal, while Australia took the bronze. These three nations are a class apart in women’s team pursuit and should be vying for the three Olympic medals at Rio 2016. Thursday also marked the fourth consecutive year that Canada has won a medal in women’s team pursuit at worlds. Glaesser has been a part of all four teams.
All photos by Rob Jones/Canadian Cyclist
