Kinley Gibson
How you feel about your Points Race…you got away off the front what was the strategy?
Kinley Gibson: I was pretty happy with my race today, I went in knowing that I definitely didn’t have the turn of speed that was going to be required to contest any sprints, so I wanted to mostly follow wheels and try to get in as many smart moves as I could and if the opportunity presented itself just see if I could pick up some points here or there. And so, the field kind of sat up at one point and I kinda just saw a moment and went and was able to just ride, you know, not to hard not gas myself. It was early on and I picked up five points, so I was pretty happy about that – it was pretty exciting.
KG: Yes (laughs).
I noticed later your teammates worked to help you go for more points.
KG: Yeah going in, we weren’t totally sure what everyone would have in their legs. Obviously Steph [Roorda] and Ali [Beveridge] are super experienced and have some really good kicks and really good strength. But I think they went out there and weren’t feeling it in the legs, you know they’ve had a long season. So our roles kind of reversed, I went out there trying to look out for them, and they started trying to take care of me a little bit more about half way through and they did a really great job just kind of watching out for me and helping me position myself a bit better. So, yeah, it was great to be out there with a couple teammates.
How did the Time Trial as you seemed to have a bit of difficulty at the start.
Lauriane Genest: Yes the time trial is one of my favourite actually and I was hoping for more than that.
What happened, was it the wrong gear or..?
LG: No, I just went too early as I wasn’t synchronized with the gate and I got a bit destabilized. After that I was just, “oh I have to go” so I went all out anyway, but it was too late.
LG: Well, my last time in competition was at Nationals so that was the last time trial I did and it was three tenths lower. But I’ve gotten a lot better since then. I was hoping for 34.5 which didn’t happen, but I’m going to keep working at and with the gate to improve.
So you have the Keirin left for tomorrow?
LG: Yeah, tomorrow is the Keirin, and just a good night of sleep and I’ll be back tomorrow.
How are you’re legs feeling after four days of racing.
LG: Yeah, I’m not used to racing so much, and I was actually thinking about that and will speak with Frank about it so he can tell me what to do to be ready tomorrow.
How long before you know that you’re back in the Keirin final?
Amelia Walsh: Ten minutes actually, I went to the athlete lounge because I was trying to cool down a bit, and Frank came running in and he’s like; “no, you got ten minutes, don’t eat!” I knew I would be racing the B Final but after watching the video and stuff, Frank was like “no she needs to be relegated” and he confirmed that with the commissaires and it ended up in my favour.
So making it to the medal final at a major Games, that’s pretty big.
AW: Yeah, it was a bit of a roller coaster this week, getting disqualified in the Team Sprint. I’ve been struggling with the sprint eventhough it was a PB. Last night I was not happy with myself whatsoever, so I kinda had to go home and regroup. But, I still wasn’t happy, it wasn’t clean whatsoever. So, yeah I was really happy to come away with a final today. I think this is my first Keirn final, so I’m pretty happy.
AM: It’s quite a pleasure being able to represent the maple leaf and it actually didn’t quite sink in until I walked into the stadium – like Laurieane said the other day, the stands were full – and both her and I looked at each other like; “Woahh! Alright this is big.” It’s the last race of my season, and it’s been very long and rather emotional so I was happy to come out with a decent result.
I guess you are referring to your team sprint partner Kate O’Brien who was injured?
AW: Yeah, it was a very tough thing to go through, probably one of the hardest things I have been though, and I really miss having her here. I know it was one of her goals even after the crash, we talked about racing Commonwealths together. But I have no doubt we will see her again on a bike.
Now you have Lauriane, so that would be three sprinters for Canada.
AW: Yeah it would be great to have three of us as we’re seeing a lot of the other teams starting to mix it up… girls are riding different parts, like one would ride the qualifier, and one would ride the final. So I think if we do have three sprinters, it would be fabulous for us to complete with the rest of the world. And if not “Lau” and I are ready to tackle it for the next two years… so it’ll be good.