Uxbridge mountain biker, Pickering cyclist off to Tokyo for Olympic debuts
Published July 9, 2021 at 6:14 pm
Durham Region Olympic Profile #6
Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Haley Smith of Uxbridge and Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist and two-time world champion Catharine Pendrel highlight Canada’s mountain bike team at the Tokyo Olympics, part of the largest cycling team Canada has ever sent to the Games.
Twenty-three athletes in all, competing in road, track, mountain bike and BMX, will be headed to Tokyo.
Brooklin’s Emily Batty, a two-time Olympian, multiple national champion and bronze medalist at the 2016 Mountain Bike World Championships, was named as a non-travelling alternate.
Sixteen athletes in canoe and kayak events – with more possibly added later – are also off to Tokyo, with Pickering’s Courtney Stott making the team in Woman’s Kayak.
Pendrel, who became a mother in January, will be competing in her fourth Olympic Games. Her illustrious career includes wins at the Pan American Games, the Commonwealth Games, the UCI World Championships and at numerous World Cups, with three overall champion titles.
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“I’m incredibly honoured to represent Canada this summer in Tokyo,” said Pendrel, who hails from Kamloops, B.C. “The sport has evolved so much since my first Olympic Games in Beijing 13 years ago. The Tokyo course won’t disappoint mountain bike fans and I’m looking forward to lining up against the best in the world again soon.”
She will be joined by Uxbridge’s Smith, who clinched her first World Cup medal in 2019 in Nove Mesto, and Peter Disera, who secured Canada’s only men’s nomination with a career-best sixth place at the Les Gets World Cup in 2019.
Smith and Disera will both be competing at their first Olympic Games.
The men’s race is on July 26 and the women’s race on July 27 (Day 3 and 4) at the Izu Mountain Bike Course, located 120 km outside of Tokyo.
Drew Mechielsen and James Palmer will also be making their Olympic debuts in BMX Racing, while Michael Woods will lead the Canadian team in the 234 kilometre-long men’s road race – the longest event of the Olympic Games. The race will finish at the Fuji International Speedway near iconic Mount Fuji.
Meanwhile, the 16 paddlers named to Team Canada earned their spots based on their performances at the 2019 World Canoe Sprint Championships in Hungary, the CKC Olympic trials in Burnaby, B.C. and internal performance assessments conducted in Canada.
Women’s canoe will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo, with both men and women competing in four kayak events and two canoe events.
Canada will be well represented in this new Olympic event by multiple world champions Laurence Vincent Lapointe and Katie Vincent of Trois-Rivieres and Mississauga, respectively. The duo won gold at the 2018 World Championships, smashing their own world record in the C-2 500m event. Vincent Lapointe took home two additional gold medals at that event in the C-1 200m and C-1 5000m.
Team veteran Mark de Jonge of Halifax, who won K-1 200m bronze at London 2012, will compete in his third Olympic Games.
Stott’s best achievement on the world stage so far was in 2017 when she finished sixth in the K2 1000m event at Senior Worlds.
Canoe/kayak sprint will take place August 2 to 7 (Days 10 to 15) at the Sea Forest Waterway.
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