December 05, 2015 (Cambridge, NZ) – The Canadian Women’s Team Pursuit squad including Allison Beveridge, Laura Brown, Jasmin Glaesser and Kirsti Lay took home silver at the UCI Track World Cup #2 in New Zealand, after posting the fastest qualifying time and remain at the top of the overall leader board.

The team swapped in Annie Foreman-Mackey and Steph Roorda for Brown and Beveridge, who is also racing in the Women’s Omnium, for the Round 1 heat against the USA to advance to the final against Australia.

Facing the Australians in the gold medal round, the opponents took the early lead, but not far behind followed the Canadians, who shuffled their roster by replacing Roorda and Foreman-Mackay with Lay and Beveridge.

At the second split, Canada had come back to lead with a slight margin. But the Australians, the reigning World Champions in the event, bounced back and took control of the race in the last two kilometers to take the gold medal.

The dual was extremely tight between the two rivals. Australia won with a time of 4:18.213, while Canadians crossed the finish line at 4:18.267, just 0.054s behind.

The four-woman Canadian team retain the coveted White Jersey as UCI World Cup leaders with 570 points, with Australia second at 496 points tied with the USA. China is fourth with 422 points while Great Britain is fifth with 404 points.

Beveridge, who raced the gold medal round in the Women Team Pursuit, was also in action in the women’s omnium. She finished third in the scratch race, fourth in the individual pursuit, and fifth in the elimination race. At the halfway mark of the six-race event, Beveridge is sitting fourth in the overall standings. Remi Pelletier-Roy sits in 16th position of the men’s omnium after three races.

In the sprint events, Kate O’Brien posted her career World Cup result with a 13th place, immediately followed by teammate Monique Sullivan in 14th. Both Canadians advanced to the first round, but lost their opening dual.

Notably for O’Brien, the result is quite remarkable as this event was only her second World Cup race in the individual sprint, improving her result from 25th in Cali to 13th in New Zealand. The former bobsledder posted a personal best of 11.025s in the 200m qualifiers, lowering her best mark by 0.002s previously set at the Pan-American Games in Toronto. This was her World Cup debut in the first round, facing an opponent.

The men raced the Keirin, and Hugo Barrette took 13th place.

More results and photos to follow.

Results

Women’s Team Pursuit

Round 1

Heat 1

1. Belarus 4:29.808
Katsiaryna Piatrouskaya
Polina Pivovarova
Ina Savenka
Marina Shmayankova

2. China  4:31.918
Dong Yan Huang
Yali Jing
Menglu Ma
Hong Wang

Heat 2

1. Great Britain 4:33.124
Megan Barker
Abigail Dentus
Manon Lloyd
Emily Nelson

DNF Italy
Beatrice Bartelloni
Maria Giulia Confalonieri
Francesca Pattaro
Silvia Valsecchi

Heat 3

1. Australia  4:18.596
Ashlee Ankudinoff
Georgia Baker
Amy Cure
Isabella King

2. New Zealand  4:23.661
Rushlee Buchanan
Lauren Ellis
Jaime Nielsen
Georgia Williams

Heat 4

1. Canada 4:18.971
Annie Foreman-Mackey
Jasmin Glaesser
Kirsti Lay
Stephanie Roorda

2. United States 4:24.931
Jennifer Valente
Kelly Catlin
Elizabeth Hernandez
Ruth Winder

The winners of heats 3 and 4 in the First round ride the final for the gold and silver medals.
The remaining six teams will be ranked by their times in the First round and will be paired as follows:
The two fastest teams ride the final for the bronze medal.
The next two fastest teams ride the final for 5th and 6th places.
The last two teams ride the final for 7th and 8th places.

Final for Gold
1. Australia 4:18.213
Ashlee Ankudinoff
Georgia Baker
Amy Cure
Isabella King

2. Canada  4:18.267
Allison Beveridge
Laura Brown
Jasmin Glaesser
Kirsti Lay

Final for Bronze

3. New Zealand  4:23.011
Rushlee Buchanan
Lauren Ellis
Jaime Nielsen
Georgia Williams

4. United States  4:29.783
Kelly Catlin
Elizabeth Hernandez
Lauren Stephens
Ruth Winder