February 17, 2012 (London, England) – The Canadian Women’s Team Pursuit – Tara Whitten, Jasmine Glaesser and Gillian Carleton – battled for gold in the final today against Great Britain and took home the silver in a nail-biter match as the local favourites finished in 3:18.14 to the Canucks 3:18.98. Australia scored the bronze in 3:19.0. All three teams on the podium beat the old World Record meaning a new Canadian record was also established.

Great Britain also broke the world record to win the women’s Team Sprint, after coming second in the qualifications to Australia (who set a world record then).

CCA Release – Canada’s Women Team Pursuit Wins Silver, Breaks Yet Again Canadian Record
The Canadian Women’s Team Pursuit won the silver medal at the 2012 UCI Track World Cup, also dubbed the Olympic Track Cycling Test event, in London tonight, breaking once more the Canadian record which they had set yesterday in the qualification rounds.

The day after  posting a remarkable fastest time in the qualifications round, Canada’s Women’s Team Pursuit team of Tara Whitten of Edmonton, AB, Jasmine Glaesser of Coquitlam, BC and Gillian Carleton of Victoria, BC posted a time of 3:18.982 [Previous record: 3:19.785, set February 16, 2011 in London, GBR], a time underneath the previous World Record before tonight’s race. Unfortunately for the Canadian crew, the defending World Champions from Great Britain won the gold medal with a time of 3:18.148, and in doing so set the new World Record on this very fast track in London.

Gillian Carleton, a 22-year old rookie on the National program hailing from Victoria, BC, was thrilled about the mark. What’s more remarkable about Gillian’s performance is that she rode the team pursuit for only the third time at the international level, and second race with Glaesser and Whitten.

“Anytime you ride under the World Record, you can be pretty happy. Setting a new Canadian record on top of what we did yesterday was absolutely fantastic. The British girls ran a great race, setting the new World Record, so I think we were in great company,” commented Gillian, the current Canadian Championship title holder in the Women’s Team Pursuit [Roorda, Brown, Carleton], 2008 and 2010 Provincial Time Trial Champion [BC] and 2009 Canada Games Road Race champion.

Gillian is competing at her career-second World Cup, and is completing the recovery of a fractured pelvis, which she broke during a crash in the Points race. Gillian went through five weeks of bed rest over the holiday period, before successfully completing a rehabilitation plan that was set up by the Canadian Cycling Team’s medical staff.

“I only started track cycling last summer. We were very thrilled to qualify first and accomplished exactly what we were here to do. We came in to today’s race with pretty much no stress, no pressure whatsoever. We just wanted to have a good ride, and show what we are capable of doing, and we certainly accomplished that objective,” added Gillian, in a post-race media interview.

Bell Currently in 5th Place in the Men’s Omnium Race
Zach Bell, Canada’s strongest Omnium competitor, opened the six-race, two-day event in style, posting the fastest time of the men’s 250m flying lap, an impressive 13.295 seconds. Bell later went and placed 11th of the men’s points race, and 14th in the men’s elimination race. Midway throughout the event, Bell sits in 5th place, with three more races to go tomorrow.

Bell, the 2011 UCI World Cup Champion, is taking part in his second World Cup race of the season as he opted to focus his energy on training instead of travelling to World cup events in Kazakhstan and Beijing.

Men’s Team Sprint Squad Faces Top Sprinters in the World
Canada’s Men Team Sprint squad comprised of Stéphane Cossette, Hugo Barrette and Cameron MacKinnon, are still fighting for that Olympic spot. In today’s race, the trio posted a time of 45.513 seconds, less than one second behind the Canadian record, to finish in 13th place.  Today’s performance was the first race together for the trio of sprinters. The team took part in a training camp, and the final selection was decided earlier this week.

“Personally, I am pretty happy about my ride. We were under the Canadian record at a sea-level track. I know I have to work on a lot of small details,” said Stéphane Cossette. “We all know this would be a very hard track to race. We beat the team from Venezuela, which was important for us. We’ll have to face them off again at the Pan-American [UCI Continental] Championships, which will be critical for us.”

His teammate Cameron MacKinnon added: “I know I could have been faster. It was a good ride with the guys, and technically, there are definitely some areas we can improve. From here, we’ll see what we can do to improve.”

In an intense battle with Venezuela, which placed in 17th position today, Canada’s Olympic journey for the Men’s Team Sprint squad now turns to the 2012 UCI Continental Championships, held in March in Mar Del Plata, in Argentina. At that event, the team will have to impose itself against the team from Venezuela.

Results from morning session HERE.

Results

Women’s Scratch Race

1. Melissa Hoskins (Aus) Australia
2. Jarmila Machacova (Cze) Czech Republic
3. Lesya Kalitovska (Ukr) Ukraine
4. Laura Basso (Ita) Cycling Team Friuli
5. Andrea Wolfer (Swi) Switzerland
6. Kelly Druyts (Bel) Belgium
7. Yumari Gonzalez Valdivieso (Cub) Cuba
8. Elke Gebhardt (Ger) Germany
9. Sofia Arreola (Mex) Mexico
10. Amy Pieters (Ned) Netherlands
11. Aksana Papko (Blr) Belarus
12. Anastasia Chulkova (Rus) Russia
13. Marta Tagliaferro (Ita) Italy
14. Vaida Pikauskaite (Ltu) Lithuania
15. Xiao Juan Diao (HKg) Hong Kong
16. Victoria Kondel (Rus) RusVelo
17. Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spa) Spain
18. Pia Pensaari (Fin) Finland
19. Alzbeta Pavlendova (Svk) Slovakia
REL  Katarzyna Pawlowska (Pol) Poland
DNF  Alba Diez (Spa) Catalunya Team
DNF  Olatz Ferran Zubillaga (Spa) Fullgas.org-Gipuzkoa
DNS  Pascale Jeuland (Fra) France
DNS  Danielle King (Gbr) Great Britain

Women’s Team Pursuit

Final For Gold

1. Great Britain 3:18.14 World Record
Laura Trott
Danielle King
Joanna Rowsell

2. Canada  3:18.98
Tara Whitten
Gillian Carleton
Jasmin Glaesser

Final For Bronze

3. Australia 3:19.0
Annette Edmondson
Amy Cure
Josephine Tomic

4. Netherlands 3:22.0
Kirsten Wild
Vera Koedooder
Ellen Van Dijk

Men’s Omnium – Standings after three rounds

1. Juan Esteban Arango (Col) Colombia  9 pts
2. Elia Viviani (Ita) Italy  12
3. Bryan Coquard (Fra) France  16
4. Ho Sung Cho (Kor) Korea  20
5. Zach Bell (Can) Canada  26
6. Luis Mansilla (Chi) Chile  26
7. Martyn Irvine (Irl) Ireland  27
8. Benjamin Swift (Gbr) Great Britain  27
9. Rafal Ratajczyk (Pol) Poland  29
10. Shane Archbold (Nzl) New Zealand  30
11. Roger Kluge (Ger) Germany  35
12. Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Belgium  35
13. Hao Liu (Chn) Max Success Pro Cycling  36
14. Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spa) Spain  38
15. Ivan Kovalev (Rus) RusVelo  39
16. Bobby Lea (USA) United States  43
17. Gael Suter (Sui) Switzerland  46
18. Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Japan  47
19. Wim Stroetinga (Ned) Netherlands  51
20. Casper Folsach (Den) Denmark  53
21. Enrique Luis Diaz (Ven) Venezuela  55
22. Vladimir Tuychiev (Uzb) Uzbekistan  89

Women’s Team Sprint

Final For Gold

1. Great Britain 32.754 World Record
Jess Varnish
Victoria Pendleton

2. Australia 32.945
Anna Meares
Kaarle McCulloch

Final For Bronze

3. China 33.06
Jinjie Gong
Shuang Guo

4. France 33.433
Sandie Clair
Clara Sanchez

Men’s Team Sprint

Final For Gold

1. Germany 43.562
Rene Enders
Robert Förstemann
Maximilian Levy

2. France 43.631
Gregory Bauge
Mickael D’almeida
Kevin Sireau

Final For Bronze

3. Great Britain 43.781
Ross Edgar
Jason Kenny
Chris Hoy

4. Australia 43.954
Matthew Glaetzer
Shane Perkins
Scott Sunderland