Canada's track cycling women earn 2 more gold
Pursuit team extends podium run, Sullivan wins 2nd medal
Canada is proving to be dominant in track cycling at the Pan Am Games, as the women's pursuit team and sprinter Monique Sullivan both added gold medals Friday night.
Calgary's Allison Beveridge, Vancouver's Laura Brown and Jasmin Glaesser and Kirsti Lay, of Medicine Hat, Alta., earned Canada its third gold in the sport with a time of 4:19.664 in the head-to-head team pursuit final to defend their 2011 Pan Am title and reset their own Pan Am record.
Canada dominates the USA in the finals, wins gold in the women's team pursuit. They set a Pan Am record <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBCPanAm?src=hash">#CBCPanAm</a> <a href="http://t.co/Qo0Hw9SPoz">http://t.co/Qo0Hw9SPoz</a>
—@cbcsportsOn Thursday, the Canadians had established a new record in qualifications, which they improved on by nearly five seconds in the final race.
"I think in qualifying we started a little bit quick and maybe weren't in control of the back half of the race," Brown said. "Our plan was to settle the first six laps and then to really finish strong and I think we showed that.
"We really rode within our abilities in the first half and then the second part of the race took care of itself."
The American team, which includes Jennifer Valente, Sarah Hammer, Kelly Catlin and Lauren Tamayo, were no match for the host nation, clocking in well behind at 4:26.426.
Canada's women's pursuit team has had an impressive streak of success following their bronze-medal victory at the London Olympics in 2012, reaching the podium in every major event they've entered since.
"We're testing out how we prepped for [Pan Am Games] and I think [Friday] was like a trial run for us," Lay said. "We showed we're on the right track and I think that gives us a lot of confidence for fine-tuning everything going forward."
Mexico earned bronze by beating Colombia.
Sullivan sweeps sprint events
Calgary's Monique Sullivan swept the women's sprint races, earning her second gold medal of the Games in the women's Keirin final.
The 26-year-old beat Cuba's Lisandra Guerra in a photo finish, with Colombia's Juliana Gaviria Rendon rounding out the podium.
Canadian Monique Sullivan wins gold in the women's keirin in a photo-finish <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBcPanAm?src=hash">#CBcPanAm</a> <a href="http://t.co/HqijB6btVL">http://t.co/HqijB6btVL</a>
—@cbcsports"I don't know what got me to the finish line, she was coming so fast," Sullivan said. "I had the feeling she was coming and she was gaining.
"I was so nervous, you never know what's going to happen in the keirin. It was just a matter of keeping one bullet left for the final sprint."
On Thursday, Sullivan won the women's team sprint race with teammate Kate O'Brien. The pair set a Pan Am record during qualifications earlier that day.
Later Friday, Rémi Pelletier-Roy, of Longueuil, Que., finished seventh in the men's Omnium points race final. The 40-kilometre event was won by Colombia's Fernando Gaviria Rendon.
With files from the Canadian Press