December 12, 2017 (Ottawa, ON) – Cycling Canada has selected the BMX athletes that will form the National and NextGen training group programs for 2018. Athletes within these programs will benefit from an optimized Daily Training Environment that includes personalized and periodized coaching and integrated support services, with a focus on performances at international events.

The NextGen Program will continue as West and East programs based at the SX tracks in Abbotsford, BC, and Toronto, ON. “2017 was a year of refining and delivering the new structure we developed in early 2017,” said Adam Muys, National BMX Program Coach. “At the High Performance level it was our most successful year with Tory Nyhaug and James Palmer both making World Cup main events and both finishing the year ranked in the top 25 in the world.

“On the Women’s side we have two women in the top 30 in Drew Mechielsen and Daina Tuchscherer, but we also had Junior Athlete, Avriana Hebert, qualify for three Elite UCI Women’s mains, so we are very excited about the next year with this young and up-and-coming group.”

“Last year was a very exciting year with the World Championships in Rock Hill where our development riders showed they are world-class with two riders reaching the podium and three others reaching the semi-finals,” said National BMX NextGen East coach Brendan Arnold.

“It’s a process to produce high level athletes and we understand that and we must be patient and calculated in our approach if we are to have these athletes someday compete at the Elite level for Canada. Among this year’s NextGen athletes, we have Worlds standouts Ben Leslie and Josh Samells both entering the Elite ranks. In the 16x category, we have two of the fastest in the world in Ryan Tougas and Curtis Krey, both riders coming off fantastic international results this year.”

“With Olympic qualifying starting in 2018 we are confident we have the right group of athletes in the program to contend for Olympic spots,” said Adam Muys. “We also believe we have some of the best development athletes on the planet and we will continue to encourage those athletes to train hard and develop through the correct development opportunities.”

The 2018 squad consists of:

National Program
Tory Nyhaug – Coquitlam, BC
James Palmer – North Vancouver, BC
Drew Mechielsen – Langley, BC
Alex Tougas – Pitt Meadows, BC
Daina Tuchscherer – Calgary, AB
Gaby Melanfant – Drummondville, QC
Avriana Hebert – Edmonton, AB

NextGen West Program (Abbotsford, BC)
Ben Leslie – Nanaimo, BC
Aidan Webber – Comox  BC
Riley Lavarato – Lethbridge, AB
Alison Grecht – Parksville, BC
Ryan Tougas – Pitt Meadows,  BC
Nick Berarducci – Airdrie, AB
Molly Simpson – Red Deer, AB
Alex Grecht – Parksville, BC

NextGen East Program (Toronto, ON)
Meg Belanger – Oka, QC
Josh Samells – Milton, ON
Felix Maltais – Drummondville, QC
James Hedgcock – Ancaster, ON
Curtis Krey – Etobicoke, ON
Colson Bates – Pickering, ON
Britney Hovencamp – Amherstview, ON
Cole Zufelt – Trenton, ON