April 06, 2018 (Gold Coast, Australia) – Canada could not match its two medals from the first day of competition on the track at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. However, the sprint team came very close to a bronze medal with women’s sprint revelation Lauriane Genest of Levis, Quebec, who finished fourth.

Genest, who was an alternate that was added to the team less than two months ago, is competing in her first international competition. This morning, she broke the Commonwealth Games record in qualifying, with a time that stood up until the very last rider – defending champion Stephanie Morton – surpassed it. Her time of 10.757 seconds is a new Canadian record, and less than four-tenths of a second off the world record.

Genest came within centimetres of making the gold medal final against eventual champion Morton, but was beaten in the semi-final by Natasha Hansen (New Zealand), who won the silver medal.  Genest went up against Australia’s Kaarle MCulloch for the bronze medal, but lost in two rides to her more experienced opponent. Canada’s second competitor, Amelia Walsh was knocked out in the quarter-final round.

“Fourth was way more than I was expecting,” said Genest. “I broke the [200 metre] record; it was a personal best, for sure. Then in the semi-final it went to three rides, and that was the hardest time of the night. It cost me a lot, I gave everything I had in those rides and it was so close.”

Canada also had a pair of seventh places finishes from Annie Foreman-Mackey of Kingston, Ontario, in the women’s individual pursuit, and Hugo Barrette of Iles de la Madeleine, Quebec, in the men’s Keirin.

 

“My legs were definitely feeling yesterday’s races,” said Foreman-Mackey. “I tried to put together a solid ride and it was a PB [Personal Best] for me, which was encouraging. I didn’t pace myself right, so I didn’t get quite what I was going for, but I keep learning every race.”

Canada also competed in the men’s individual pursuit, with Adam Jamieson of Barrie, Ontario, the top Canadian finisher in 15th place.

Kris Westwood, Team Manager for Cycling at the Games, said, “Lauriane was a bit of a surprise, since we haven’t had a chance to see her race at this level before. We knew she was fast, but to break the Commonwealth record and then to advance all the way to the bronze medal final of the Sprint is pretty amazing. You could tell by the end of the evening she was pretty exhausted, but she was still giving it her all. I think there is a lot of promise among our riders, and we are not very far from being able to regularly land on the podium.”

Results coming.