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Pan Am Track Championships Day 3 Report – Canada’s MacKinnon Earns 3rd Silver as Foreman-Mackey Wins Bronze

by pedalmag.com

September 04, 2015 (Santiago, Chile) – Sean MacKinnon is on fire. The young cyclist from Ontario earned his third medal on Friday in as many days at the 2015 UCI Pan-American Championships in Santiago, Chile. This time another silver medal coming in the Points Race, his last event of the Chilean trip.

“Tonight was yet another bonus down here at the Pan-American Track Champs. After our success in the team pursuit, then again in the individual pursuit, I am so pleased to finish off the racing on a high note,” said MacKinnon.

“Tonight’s Points Race was very tactical and a tight race until the end. I could not have had the success I had without my teammate Aidan Caves, who helped me the whole way through keeping me in the right spot until the end,” he added.

MacKinnon won the silver medal on the first day of competition in the men team pursuit Wednesday. He then went on to pocket another silver medal in the individual pursuit, Thursday.

Another good day for the women’s track endurance athletes in the 3000m individual pursuit. Annie Foreman-Mackey qualified third with a personal best of 3:36.28 while teammate Kirsti Lay qualified fourth with a personal best of 3:39.14, setting up a Canada vs Canada dual for the bronze medal. In the medal race, it was ultimately Foreman-Mackey who prevailed over Lay to claim the bronze medal with another solid ride of 3:36.742. American rider Jennifer Valente won the event with a superb time of 3:28.947.

“Overall a solid day for Team Canada at the track,” said coach Craig Griffin. “I’m encouraged by the progress of both Annie and Kirsti in this discipline, but they still need to improve in a few specific areas to get down to world class times. However, these non-Olympic Pan American Championship events, which are not a focus for our group, are a great opportunity for experience and learning.”

Foreman-Mackey was enthusiastic about the performance. “I’m really excited to have had a solid ride in the individual pursuit today. With a new personal best time and room for improvement, I can take away a lot from my rides. Though we, unfortunately, fell short of qualifying a Canadian to the gold medal final, it was fun to race with my teammate in the bronze medal final. I’ve learned a lot from competing at these championships and am eager to use this as a platform to keep building through the fall and winter season!”

Remi Pelletier-Roy completed three of the six omnium races today, taking the sixth place in the scratch, second place in the individual pursuit and eighth place in the elimination race. The three remaining events will take place tomorrow.

In Sprint action, Canada’s ladies qualified with the two fastest time of the day, with Kate O’Brien (11.060s) taking the top position while teammate Monique Sullivan posted a time of 11.120s. Both O’Brien and Sullivan easily advanced to their respective semi-final race, and could potentially face each other in the gold medal race, setting the stage for a repeat of the Pan-American Games gold medal race. Two Canadians, Colombia, and Cuba advanced to the Top-4.

Tomorrow sees the start of the women’s Omnium, where Canadian champion Allison Beveridge will line up against five-time World Champion Sara Hammer in the scratch race, individual pursuit, and elimination events. Steph Roorda and Kirsti Lay will compete in the women’s Points race.

Canada now has ten medals at this important Rio 2016 Olympic Qualifying competition.





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