Team Canada’s results from the 2022 Track Cycling Championships, held in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, from October 12th to 16th represent a promising future for track cycling in Canada.
Nineteen-year-old Dylan Bibic from Mississauga, Ontario, became the first Canadian man to win an elite track world championship when he claimed the win in the Elite Mens’ Scratch race on the second day of the event. This is Bibic’s second world championship title after winning the points race as a Junior in 2021.
BC athletes competing at the event for Team Canada also showed a lot of promise.
Twenty-one-year-old Sean Richardson from Vancouver placed 11th in the qualifying round of the Team Pursuit together with Canadian teammates Dylan Bibic, Mathias Guillemette and Carson Mattern. The very young quartet were just over one second out from the time needed to qualify for the next round.
On the women’s side, Maggie Coles-Lyster from Maple Ridge shone for the Canadian Women’s Team at this year’s World Championships. Competing in nearly every endurance race, the 23-year-old’s best result was a fourth place in the Women’s Omnium, only 2 points less than the bronze medalist Maria Martins from Portugal. With a couple of top-12 finishes in the Points and Scratch race, Coles-Lyster can be happy with her performance at the world championships this year. Together with fellow BC rider Sarah Van Dam, Coles-Lyster achieved another 12th-place finish in the Madison.
Van Dam was the hopeful for Team Canada in the Individual Pursuit alongside Ontario native Ruby West where they finished 12th and 19th place respectively in the qualifying round.
Much attention was also drawn to the Women’s Team Pursuit squad which included the three BC athletes, Coles-Lyster, Van Dam, and Erin Atwell, joined by Ruby West of Ontario to complete the squad. With a 7th-place finish in the qualifying round, Canada moved on to the next round where the team put out a personal best of 4:15.835 but it was not enough to get past the team from the Netherlands, extinguishing their hopes for a medal.
Team Canada had many performances to be proud of and can hope for more medals when they return to the same velodrome for the Olympic Games in 2 years.