5 athletes file appeal against Cycling Canada’s cancellation of Women’s Team Pursuit program

When Canadian Cycling Magazine broke the story that Cycling Canada announced it was pausing its women’s team pursuit program and would not be sending a women’s team pursuit squad to this year’s world championships in Shanghai, China, the governing body presented the news as a final decision. The response online, from the athlete’s open letter to Cycling Canada to the immediate and massive show of support for the current athletes and the team pursuit program, suggests this discussion was just getting started.

Now, five athletes from the women’s team pursuit program are filing an appeal against Cycling Canada. The CBC reports that Skyler Goudswaard, Fiona Majendie, Jenna Nestman,  Lily Plante, and Justine Thomas have filed an appeal with Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada. That appeal challenges Cycling Canada’s decision not to send a women’s team pursuit squad to 2026 world championships.

Selection woes at Cycling Canada

The five riders are being represented by Amanda Fowler and Dr. Emir Crowne. If those names sound familiar, it could be because they recently represented Dylan Bibic as he successfully fought Cycling Canada to race the omnium at 2025 world championships. The two cases bear some similarity, as unfair assessment and selection criteria are central to both cases.

“As reflected in public reporting, the athletes received no meaningful notice before an entire program was cut, eliminating a critical Olympic pathway,” Fowler and Dr. Crowne argue in a joint statement.

In the case of the women’s team pursuit program, though, the appeal also questions whether the athlete’s gender factored unfairly into the decision.

“The decision raises serious questions about fairness, consistency, and whether female athletes are being afforded the same opportunity to compete and progress as the men’s program,” Fowler and Dr. Crowne added.

Performance gaps and trust gaps: Cycling Canada’s CEO speaks on the women’s team pursuit squad’s exclusion from track world champs

As has been pointed out repeatedly, Cycling Canada has cancelled the women’s team pursuit program, but not the men’s. This despite the women’s program being, historically, the much more successful of the two programs.

A matter of performance?

In a conversation with Canadian Cycling Magazine, Cycling Canada CEO Mathieu Boucher argued that, while the news may not have been communicated in the best way, the decision to cut the women’s team…