April 17, 2008 – The UCI has just released the final allocation of berths for the track events for the Beijing Olympics this summer. Canada has qualified spots in both the men and women’s points races. While the spots are technically transferable (some of the places allocated by the UCI are tied to specific riders such as World Champions in each event while others can be determined by the national federations) the allocations will almost assuredly go to Gina Grain and Zach Bell, who essentially did all the work to qualify Canada for these Olympic spots. In the case of Bell this meant battling back from a shoulder injury less than a month before the Track World Championships, while Grain is currently in Europe trying to make a bid for a road spot as well.

While two spots is a marked improvement over Athens in which Lori-Ann Muenzer was the sole Canadian representative, it is still a far cry from the high water mark of Atlanta 1996 in which Canadians medaled in three different track disciplines (and Clara Hughes declined to ride the pursuit). Both Grain and Bell are to be commended for winning an uphill battle to qualify to represent their country at the highest stages sport has to offer!

Pedal will catch up with Bell and Grain to report on their reactions to this exciting news and their respective game plans en-route to Beijing.