Maggie Coles-Lyster

Biography

In 2017, Maggie Coles-Lyster became Canada’s first ever junior world champion in track cycling. She won the women’s points race a day after taking silver in the omnium, which had made her determined not to go home without the rainbow stripes jersey awarded to world champions. The year before, she had won bronze in the omnium at the 2016 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships. 

In January 2018, Coles-Lyster helped the women’s team pursuit win bronze in her debut on the UCI World Cup circuit in Belarus. Later that year, she contributed to another team pursuit bronze at the 2018 Pan American Championships.  

Coles-Lyster was a double silver medallist at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games in the women’s team pursuit and women’s omnium. 

In 2021, Coles-Lyster debuted at the elite UCI Track World Championships where she helped Canada to a fourth-place finish in the team pursuit and finished fourth in the women’s scratch race. She was subsequently invited to join the UCI Track Champions League for its inaugural season and finished the circuit ranked fourth in the women’s endurance standings. Earlier in 2021, she won three silver medals at the Pan American Championships, including one in the omnium. 

Coles-Lyster competed in the omnium at the world championships for the first time in 2022 and finished an impressive fourth, missing the podium by just two points. Earlier that year, she won bronze in the scratch race at the Commonwealth Games where she had come close to the podium in the points race as well as the road race.  She finished the 2022 UCI Track Champions League ranked third in the women’s endurance standings. 

A Little More About Maggie 

Getting into the Sport: Learned to ride a bike at age 5… Began racing cyclocross at age 8 and started road racing soon after that… When she was 12 she was finally the right size to ride the rental bikes at the velodrome and fell in love with track cycling, entering races when she was 14… Her parents owned a bike store and sponsored a team that included Canadian Olympic medallists in the team pursuit, giving her first-hand inspiration… Outside Interests: Hobbies include horseback riding and yoga… Aspires to a career in veterinary medicine  specializing in marine life… Odds and Ends: Takes a picture of herself doing a yoga pose in front of a landmark from each place she travels for competition… Favourite quote: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Green…