Women’s pursuit get Cdn record, silver medal
Posted February 17, 2012 7:30 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
LONDON — Canada’s women’s pursuit team continued its assault on the record book Friday en route to winning a World Cup silver medal at the Olympic track cycling test event.
Tara Whitten of Edmonton, Jasmine Glaesser of Coquitlam, B.C., and Victoria’s Gillian Carleton lowered their own Canadian record for the second consecutive day, racing to a time of three minutes 18.982 seconds.
Canada’s time would have been a world record had it not been for a speedy Great Britain team that won gold in a world-record 3:18.148.
“Any time you ride under the world record, you can be pretty happy,” said Carleton, a national team rookie. “Setting a new Canadian record on top of what we did (Thursday) was absolutely fantastic. The British girls ran a great race, setting the new world record, so I think we were in great company.”
The Canadians had set a national record of 3:19.785 the previous night.
The silver medal bodes well for the Canadians on the new velodrome that will host track cycling at the 2012 London Olympics.
“We came in to today’s race with pretty much no stress, no pressure whatsoever,” Carleton said. “We just wanted to have a good ride, and show what we are capable of doing, and we certainly accomplished that objective.”
Zach Bell of Watson Lake, Yukon, is in fifth place in the omnium after the first of two days. Bell posted the fastest time in the men’s 250-metre flying lap, then was 11th in the points race, and 14th in the elimination race.
Canada’s men’s team sprint squad of Stephane Cossette of Chicoutimi, Que., Hugo Barrette of Cap-Aux-Meules, Que., and Cameron MacKinnon of Calgary finished 13th in a time of 45.513 seconds, less than a second off the Canadian record.
The team is still in the hunt for an Olympic spot.
