Canadian cyclist Genest finishes seventh on final day of Track World Cup

MILTON, Ont. — Canada’s Lauriane Genest kept her expectations in check ahead of the final day of competition at the UCI Track World Cup on Sunday.

A late addition to the women’s keirin lineup as a replacement for teammate Kelsey Mitchell, Genest settled for a seventh-place showing on the final day of competition at Mattamy National Cycling Centre.

“It was obviously a day of learning,” Genest said.

Genest paired with Mitchell to win team sprint gold on Friday in what was expected to be her lone race of the week.

Mitchell, from Sherwood Park, Alta., added sprint silver on Saturday despite nagging stomach flu symptoms. She decided to skip the keirin to recover and Genest, the only other women’s sprinter on the Canadian roster, took her place.

Genest, from Levis, Que., struggled in Sunday’s semifinal to fall into the 7-12 placement round.

“That was really badly executed from me,” she said. “I was really too patient and not in the right cadence to do my acceleration and pass people.

“So I was stuck at the back and didn’t really know where to go.”

Genest did give the near-sellout partisan crowd one last reason to roar by finishing well ahead of the field in the small final. Dutch cyclist Laurine van Riessen later won gold, Spain’s Helena Casas Roige took silver and American Madalyn Godby won bronze.

Hugo Barrette of Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Que., the lone Canadian men’s sprinter, did not make it out of the qualifying round.

Poland’s Mateusz Rudyk beat Quentin Caleyron of France for gold and Rayan Helal of France took bronze.

Devaney Collier of Edmonton was 11th in the women’s omnium. American Jennifer Valente took gold, Letizia Paternoster of Italy won silver and Ireland’s Emily Kay earned the bronze.

Netherlands won the men’s madison ahead of Britain and France. Canada did not finish the race. 

Canada finished the four-day event with four medals overall. In addition to the women’s sprint medals, Canada won bronze in the men’s and women’s team pursuit on Friday.

In the women’s pursuit, Collier, Victoria’s Erin Attwell, Miriam Brouwer of Burlington, Ont., and Edmonton’s Kinley Gibson beat Belgium to finish third.

The men’s squad of Edmonton’s Evan Burtnik, Chris Ernst of Kitchener, Ont., Victoria’s Amiel Flett-Brown and Calgary’s Jackson Kinniburgh edged Belarus to take third.

“This is great for the program,” Genest said of the Canadian team’s overall performance.

The Canadian endurance squads are NextGen riders as the A-teams are training in New Zealand ahead of the world championships next month in Berlin. Most countries sent mixed lineups of A- and B-teams.

After her victory Friday, Genest had planned regular training sessions for the weekend. She got word Saturday evening that she’d be racing the keirin.

“The racing was my training,” she said with a laugh.

For Olympic qualification, a 20-month period is used to build ranking points at World Cups and other international events. The world championships are the final opportunity for countries to qualify for the Tokyo Games in the six different disciplines for each gender.

This is the third year that the Mattamy National Cycling Centre has hosted a World Cup competition. The venue will also host the upcoming UCI para-cycling track world championship.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2020.

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Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press