Multiple Medals for Canadian Cyclists at Pan Ams.
May 15, 2010 – The final day of competition at the 2010 Pan Am Cycling Championships was a successful one for the Canadian Cycling team. Travis Smith, who had the fastest time in qualifying, was victorious in the match sprint claiming the gold medal and Pan Am Champion jersey with a two rides to none victory over Njisane Philly of Trinidad and Tobago.
Monique Sullivan won the first round of the Keirin and continued on to a strong 5th place finish. Laura Brown competed in the very active and exciting Points Race. She gained a lap early and finished in 5th place overall.
On Saturday Sullivan had moved through to the semi finals in the sprint winning all of her rounds to get there. She lost to the Cuban rider Lisandra Guerra in the semis and faced off against the Venezuelan Daniela Larreal for the Bronze medal but finished in fourth.
Earlier in the competition Travis Smith and Stephane Cossette rode in the kilo final and both raced to personal bests and moved up one spot from last year. Stephane finished in 6th place and 1.18 seconds faster than last year in a time of 1:02.671 and Travis bested his Canadian Record to win Silver in a time of 1:01.429. Travis and Stephane will race again tomorrow in the Sprints and are feeling confident heading in to the race.
Monique Sullivan, who had set a personal best in the 500 meters at the World Championships in March bested her time by 0.6 seconds to finish with a time of 34.76 seconds in second place. Monique’s silver medal is the first for the team on the track at these championships. “I am really happy with my 500 result. I didn’t have any expectations coming into this race but it is a fast track and I am glad that I was able to maximize my effort and beat my personal best by over half a second. Lori-Ann Muenzer’s Canadian record is my next goal and I am getting close!”