July 22, 2016 (Aigle, Switzerland) – Canada lit up the velodrome on Day 3 at the Junior Track World Championships with two podium performances headlined by Stefan Ritter’s superb GOLD in the Men’s Kilo – a historic first gold on the track for Canadian Juniors as far as we know. Soon after Devaney Collier, also from Alberta, captured the silver in the Women’s Scratch Race making it a double podium day for Canada. We caught up with Ritter just after the medal ceremony for a brief chat on his rainbow jersey performance – results here – lots more photos here.

 

We also caught up with Ian Melvin, Men’s Track Endurance head coach at Cycling Canada, for his take on the stellar day for Team Canada.

“Coming in to these championships we knew that Stefan’s form was “on”.  He was in a great place but until you come up against your opposition, you’re never quite sure where that is. We saw glimpses yesterday in the Keirin but today Stefan proved he was #1 in the world.

“Devaney’s medal on the other hand was a really pleasant surprise. She’s a very confident and direct rider, perfect for the Scratch race. She timed her final run perfectly with just 1km to go. It was a great result for her,” commented Melvin.

Melvin is bullish on Canada’s program and future, and sees more medals down the road. “There has been a lot of very vocal doubters about the direction we’ve taken the Junior program and the standards we’ve set, but nights like this show that with hard work and a committed team, goals can be achieved. We’re going to keep working hard to ensure that 2016 isn’t a one-off success for Canada. We want more of the same; these young junior champions of today are our Olympians of tomorrow,” he added.