August 7/23 8:19 am - O'Brien Adds Another Silver for Canada

Posted by Editoress on 08/7/23
 

Kate O'Brien won Canada's second medal of these multi-discipline Worlds on Sunday, with a silver medal on the track in the Women's C4 500 metre time trial. O'Brien finished 2.175 seconds behind world record holder Kadeena Cox (GBR) and her time of 35.961 seconds.

Kate O'Brien

Women C4 500m Time Trial, Qualifying

Women C4 500m Time Trial, Final

In other track events, Dylan Bibic went into the final Points Race of the Men's Omnium in second place, but a series of attacks shattered the field and Bibic dropped to tenth overall by the finish. Kelsey Mitchell finished ninth overall in the Women's Keirin, after missing the medal final by one spot in the Semis; Lauriane Genest was knocked out in the first round Repechage. Chris Ernst was the top Canadian man in the Individual Pursuit, in ninth, followed by Michael Foley in 17th and Carson Mattern in 18th. Filippo Ganna (Italy) came from behind to defend his IP title, beating Dan Bigham (GBR) by 0.054 seconds.

Chris Ernst

Men Individual Pursuit, Qualifying photo gallery

"I was happy to make it into the semi-finals and [small] final," said Mitchell, "but obviously I wish I could have been in the Big Final. I'm still learning a lot tactically; the legs were there tonight, so hopefully they will be there tomorrow [for the Sprint]. I'm excited to ride the Sprint and see what the legs can do."

Kelsey Mitchell

Women Keirin, Quarter Finals

Women Keirin, Finals

Ernst commented, "Can't always break records on a regular basis, but non the less I'm super happy with top 10 here at Worlds and only being a handful of seconds away from a medal ride."

On the road, the men's road race was stopped for close to an hour when environmental protesters glued themselves to the road, allowing riders through but none of the support vehicles. Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) took what he calls 'his great victory' on the road after a late race solo attack dropped Wout van Aert (Belgium), Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) and Mads Pedersen (Denmark). Van Aert took second, with Pogacar outsprinting Pedersen for third. Canada had six riders in the race - Guillaume Boivin, Charles-Étienne Chrétien, Nickolas Zukowsky, Derek Gee, Hugo Houle, Benjamin Perry - with Pier-Andre Cote unable to start due to COVID. Only Boivin (36th) and Zukowsky (40th) finished.

In the Mountain Bike Marathon, Haley Smith was 15th and Maghalie Rochette 22nd in the women's event and in the men's event Andrew L'Esperance 34th and Alexandre Vialle 81st. The racers faced cold rain and muddy conditions.

Track Worlds: Day 5 results and photo galleries