No Olympic Sprint for Canada and North America
Canada and USA teams failed to make it through to the 2012 edition of the Summer Olympic Games.
Neither the men’s nor the women’s squad were able to make an impression during the ongoing UCI Track World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
The Canadian team finished the race at the 11th position and fell short of the points required to make it through to the London Olympics.
A maximum number of 10 teams can participate at the event and Canadian men could not perform well enough to overcome Team Venezuela at the event.
Venezuela men claimed the 8th position and have fulfilled their dream of riding the 2012 version of the Olympic Games.
Team Canada consisted of Joseph Veloce and Hugo Barrette tried their luck but Smith was not happy with his effort during the race. He believes that, the last lap really ruined their chances of finishing amongst the top ten and is also hopeful for the future events.
Travis noted, "We were planning to come here and get a top 10. I felt like I had a pretty bad last lap".
"This year we were dealing with a lot of new guys, and I had an injury in August where I was in the Intensive Care Unit for a week. The race here wasn't horrible. We have room to improve," he finished.
On the other hand, the American team was even worse during the event. Team America also finished behind Team Venezuela.
The American men had to share the fate of Team Germany and Team Great Britain after Michael Blatchford, Kevin Mansker and Jimmy Watkins were demoted for making illegal transfers.
Jamie Staff is the USA Cycling Director of Sprint shared his thoughts after the race, "At the end of the day, I was proud of the way we came into this".
He continued, "The guys' times were on par with what I was hoping. It's disappointing to be disqualified".
Team Venezuela has now succeeded to add a total number of five cyclists in its Olympics squad.
Daniela Larreal and Mariesthela Vilera, Hersony Canelón, Ángel Pulgar and César Marcano are expected to represent Venezuela at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Tags: