Canadian women's team pursuit claims gold in Hong Kong

The Canadian women's team pursuit team won gold at a UCI track cycling event in Hong Kong on Saturday, edging Great Britain in the final round by just 0.3 seconds.

The team of Jasmin Glaesser, Laura Brown, Stephanie Roorda and Georgia Simmerling completed the four-kilometre race in four minute,19.737 seconds to capture gold.

The Canadians advanced to the final after beating the United States in the first round.

Twenty-three-year-old Glaesser, a Vancouver resident, was also a member of the team which won bronze in the team pursuit event at the 2012 London Olympics, then only a 3km event.

"We accomplished what we came here for, which was to get on the podium and try our riders in different positions in the lineup to develop them for different roles in the future." said women's endurance coach Craig Griffin in a press release. "To get the win and the World Cup overall was a bonus. It was a great collective effort from the riders and bodes very well for the future."

The United States beat out China in the race for bronze.

The win sets the Canadian women up well moving into the upcoming UCI track cycling world championships, where they've been successful in recent years, though never striking gold.

Canada has taken a spot on the podium in the women's team pursuit in the previous four championships, winning bronze in 2012 and 2015 and silver in 2013 and 2014. Glaesser has been a member of the team all four years.

In other action from Hong Kong on Saturday, Canada's Hugo Barrette won silver in the men's kierin. The world cup event continues until Sunday.

"I wanted to make a comeback for the world championships," said Barrette. "Erin designed a plan to get me back on the track and meet that goal. I expected to be in this kind of shape in time for the Worlds, but it happened sooner. This is a good outlook for the future."

The world championships are scheduled for March 2-6 in London.