Four Quebecers have been selected as part of the Canadian cycling delegation which will participate in the Paris Olympic Games this summer. They are Olivia Baril, Ariane Bonhomme, Mathias Guillemette and Lauriane Genest.
Cycling Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday the identities of the 21 athletes who will take part in road cycling, track cycling (sprint and endurance), BMX racing and mountain biking at the upcoming Games. Of the lot, eight have Olympic experience and 13 are rookies.
Olivia Baril is one of four representatives in road cycling. This will be a first Olympic experience for the Rouynorandienne, who climbed onto the podium in a stage of the Vuelta Espana Femenina, in 2024.
Baril will be well surrounded by Alison Jackson, Michael Woods and Derek Gee, who will be respectively in their second, third and second participation in the biggest international sporting event. Woods, 37, finished fifth in the Tokyo 2020 road race, achieving the second-best Olympic finish in Canadian history in the event.
In track cycling, Canada is sending 14 athletes, eight in endurance and seven in sprint. This quota is the result of a “strong international racing season” on the Nations Cup circuit. Only three countries qualified athletes in each event.
Ariane Bonhomme, from Gatineau, will lead the women’s team pursuit team in endurance road cycling. She will be at her second Games, after those in Tokyo. The Trois-Rivières native Mathias Guillemette will be on the men’s team. Added to them are Erin Attwell (British Columbia), Dylan Bibic (Ontario), Maggie Coles-Lyster (British Columbia), Michael Foley (Ontario), Carson Mattern (Ontario) and Sarah Van Dam (British Columbia).
In sprint track cycling, Quebecer Lauriane Genest will try to win a second Olympic medal after the bronze acquired in the keirin in Tokyo. Same thing for Alberta’s Kelsey Mitchell, Olympic sprint champion in 2020. Both will also be on the team sprint team with Calgary native Sarah Orban.
On the men’s side, Ontarians Nick Wammes, Tyler Rorke and James Hedcock, gold medalists in the team sprint at the 2023 Pan American Games, will fly to the French capital.
In BMX, the sole Canadian representative will be Molly Simpson, a 21-year-old from Alberta who won silver at her first Pan American Games in 2023 in Santiago. “Words cannot describe how excited and happy I am to represent Canada at the highest level of my sport; It’s truly an incredible feeling,” Simpson said in a statement.
In mountain biking, the country will be represented by a brother-sister duo from Ontario. Isabella Holmgren, the youngest cyclist on the Olympic team at 19, will be joined by her older brother Gunnar Holmgren. Both will make their Olympic debut.
“I’m very proud because I’m going to be an Olympic athlete soon, and being selected alongside my sister makes it even more special,” says Holmgren, who says he’s “looking forward to honoring the sheet.” maple”.
The delegation also includes 11 substitutes, including four Quebecers: Magdeleine Vallières-Mill (Sherbrooke), Simone Boilard (Quebec), Hugo Houle (Sainte-Perpétue) and Guillaume Boivin (Montreal).
In total, the Canadian cycling team has won 16 Olympic medals over the years. The only discipline that has yet to see any Canadian medalists is BMX.
Mountain bike, track and BMX athletes were selected based on their performances at the 2023 and 2024 UCI World Cup and World Championships, while road cyclists were selected based on their performances on the international stage in 2023 and 2024, as well as “on the basis of their suitability for the Olympic pathway,” it said. Quota spots in BMX freestyle will be announced on June 26. Canada “is expected to receive one spot” in the men’s category, it said.
The BMX races will take place on August 1 and 2 at the BMX Stadium in Saint-Quentin-de-Yvelines, while the mountain bike races will be held on July 28 and 29 at the Élancourt hill site. As for the road cycling competitions, they will begin on July 27. The road races will take place August 3-4 and the track races August 5-11.
