A tough day for Canadian track cyclists at the Paris Olympic Games

After two medals in Tokyo 2020, it hasn’t been a very good Olympic Games for the Canadian track cycling team in Paris so far, with stomach illness hampering its efforts, and that was underscored by the action at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome on Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday produced Canadian sevenths and eighths in men’s and women’s team sprint and team pursuit disciplines. Thursday was a tough day for the keirin aspirations of Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest and the omnium hopes of Dylan Bibic.

Dylan Bibic in the men’s omnium

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome was where Dylan Bibic took gold in the scratch race at the 2022 World Championships. Bibic earned the silver in last year’s World Championships in the non-Olympic elimination race. His omnium results were seventh in 2022 and fifth last season. The current World Champion in omnium was Portugal’s Iúri Leitão, with France’s Benjamin Thomas silver. Of the Tokyo 2020 podium, only bronze Elia Viviani was on the track on Thursday.

Bibic’s specialty, the 40-lap scratch race, was the first event. A handful of riders lapped the field with six laps to go. Bibic was 17th.

The tempo race awarded a point to the first rider over the finish line every four laps over 40 laps. He with the most points at the end of 40 laps was awarded 40 more. You could lap and get 20 points or be lapped and lose 20 points. Belgian Fabio van den Bossche lapped Bibic. The Canadian’s 20th brought him down to 19th overall midway through the omnium.

The race of the dreading blinking lights, the elimination race, yanked a guy off the boards if he was last at the end of every second lap. An Indonesian chap was the first to go. Bibic had a better race, the eleventh eliminated. However, he was still 19th overall.

The points race was the final contest, and the longest one at 100 laps with a sprint every 10 laps. With the engrossing medal scrap hot and heavy–four points seperating the top 3 with three sprints to go–Bibic could secure no points.

Gold) Benjamin Thomas (France) 164 points
Silver) Iúri Leitão (Portugal) 153
Bronze) Fabio van den Bossche (Belgium) 131
19) Dylan Bibic (Canada) 29

Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest in the women’s keirin

In the women’s keirin, Canada’s two Tokyo 2020 track medalists, Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest, started their derny journey on Wednesday. In qualifying, they both finished…