Victoria riders Erin Attwell and Sarah Van Dam will not lack for inspiration at the UCI world track cycling 颅championships taking place today through 颅Sunday in Roubaix, France.
How can you with Tokyo Olympics sprint gold-medallist Kelsey Mitchell and Keirin bronze-medallist Lauriane 颅Genest as teammates? 颅Mitchell and Genest will both be 颅competing in the Keirin, sprint and team sprint events.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so amazing to be able to bring two Olympic medallists to track worlds,鈥� Cycling sa国际传媒 high performance director Kris Westwood said in a 颅statement.
鈥淜elsey and Lauriane will walk into the Roubaix 颅Velodrome as riders to watch, which brings all sorts of new challenges, but I鈥檓 confident they are up for it.鈥�
Attwell, silver medallist in the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games, and Van Dam are part of the Canadian women鈥檚 pursuit team being prepared for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Van Dam was part of the gold-medallist team at the Cali Nations Cup last month in Colombia.
鈥淭he squad represents a 颅generational shift for our teams,鈥� said Westwood.
鈥淭hey have big shoes to fill and I鈥檓 excited to see what they can achieve as we work towards the Paris Olympic Games in just three years鈥� time.鈥�
Attwell, 22, and Van Dam, 20, are both out of the 颅Canadian Sports School-Victoria on the PISE campus at Camosun 颅College Interurban Road, under the auspices of School District 62.
Attwell and Van Dam are following a tradition of track cyclists to come out of the 1994 Commonwealth Games velodrome in Colwood. It is now known as the Westshore Velodrome and was saved from being torn down after the Island cycling community rallied to keep it operational. Other Island cyclists who got their starts on the Westshore oval include 2012 London Olympics bronze-medallist Gillian Carleton, 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games gold-medallist Evan Carey and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist and Tokyo Olympics top-five rider Jay Lamoureux.
sa国际传媒 is sending a team of 16 riders to the world track championships in Roubaix.
