Olympian Sarah Van Dam of Victoria has continued her trek from the Juan de Fuca Velodrome to the great tracks of the world.
The Victoria cyclist won the women’s scratch race this month at the UCI Track Cycling Champions League race in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, and was second in the world endurance league standings after two rounds, 27 points behind Olympic gold medallist Katie Archibald of Great Britain.
The Track Champions League began last month at the 2024 Paris Olympics venue, the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, and continued in Apeldoorn. It concludes this weekend at the 2012 London Olympics venue, the Lee Valley Velopark. Van Dam just missed the season podium, finishing fourth overall, in the women’s world endurance standings after the final races in London on Saturday.
The Islander’s rise hasn’t gone unnoticed as Van Dam was recently signed by the German pro team Ceratizit–WNT, whose stable of track riders includes 2016 Rio Olympics team pursuit gold medallist Archibald, 2020 Tokyo Olympics team pursuit gold medallist Franziska Brausse of Germany and Spanish star Sandra Alonso Dominguez.
Van Dam was rebounded strongly from the summer after the world No. 5-ranked Canadian women’s track pursuit team of Victoria riders Van Dam and Erin Attwell along with Maggie Coles-Lyster of Maple Ridge and Ariane Bonhomme of Gatineau, Que., were laid low by a bacterial infection at the Paris Olympics that greatly compromised their performance.
“We came in with the hopes of fighting for a medal and I truly think if we had a smooth run into our competition we would have been fighting for that medal,” Van Dam told the sa国际传媒 in Paris. “But with the cards we were dealt, we gave what we had and that’s all we could really do on the day. I’m really proud of my teammates. It’s pretty crazy to think back to where Erin [Attwell] and I started with Victoria Tripleshot Club as 11 year olds and now we are here at the Olympic Games representing sa国际传媒.
“Even with the hand we were dealt here at the Games, that’s an unreal feeling.”
Van Dam and Attwell became the latest internationals out of the 1994 Commonwealth Games Juan de Fuca Velodrome on a list that includes 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist Gillian Carleton, 2020 Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jay Lamoureux and 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games gold medallist Evan Carey.
Dylan Bibic, of Mississauga, Ont., entered the weekend of racing in London as the UCI Track Cycling Champions League men’s endurance leader. But his events on Saturday were suspended following a serious collision on the track in which cyclists ended up in the crowd in a preceding women’s keirin race.
The 72 riders from 26 nations competing in the 2024 UCI Track Cycling Champions League have collectively won 14 Olympic gold medals.
