Maple Ridge cyclist Maggie Coles-Lyster was part of a bronze-medal performance with Team Canada at the Pan American track championships.
The women’s team pursuit squad of Coles-Lyster, Laurie Jussaume, Devaney Collier, Erin Attwell and Miriam Brouwer went head-to-head with Chile for bronze and had a strong ride, lapping their rivals.
It was one of seven medals Canada earned at the championships, held in Aguascalientes, Mexico from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2, as the team took two gold, two silver and three bronze.
Coles-Lyster also finished fourth in the women’s points race.
She posted in social media that it was a “bittersweet ending to my first Pan Ams with yet another fourth-place finish in the points race”
“Been a pretty consistent year of the irritating fourth places, but this is the last one!!” she wrote.
“Overall though, it has been such a fun week with the Cycling Canada official crew in Mexico, standing on the podium for bronze with team pursuit, getting to race the 500m TT, and simply racing on such a wildly fast track!”
The team also set four Canadian records during the event.
“Our results here in Aguascalientes help set us up for the World Cup season,” said Kris Westwood, high performance director at Cycling Canada. “Hugo [Barrette] in particular really needed a strong kickoff to Olympic qualifying, and he delivered [two gold medals].
“We also saw four new Canadian records, which shows our athletes are progressing, and it was great to give some of our development athletes a shot at this level.”
The Olympic qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has started, and Team Canada has also been working to get its developers riders a chance to compete on the world stage.