07.03.08 - Canadian Cycling Association announces three Olympic nominees in track cycling

OTTAWA – The Canadian Cycling Association announced Thursday that Gina Grain of Burnaby, B.C., Zach Bell of Watson Lake, Yukon and Martin Gilbert of Chateauguay, Que., have been nominated for the Olympic track cycling events.

Grain has been nominated for the women’s points race, Bell in the men’s points race and Madison and Gilbert in the Madison.

‘’This is an experienced team,’’ said Sean O’Donnell, Manager, High Performance Programs for the Canadian Cycling Association. ‘’All three athletes have spent considerable time over the last number of years competing on the World Cup circuit. They head to Beijing very familiar with their opponents.’’

Bell, a track cyclist for six years, raced his first Madison events with Gilbert who’ll be his partner for these Games. In the Madison, teams of two riders try to accumulate most points in intermediate sprints during a 60 kilometre race. Riders from each team alternate turns on track.

‘’It’s probably one of the most dynamic races on the track,’’ said Bell, 25, a national team member since 2004 and an eight-time national track champion. ‘’Because of the rest factor you can race quite a bit harder and with a lot more intensity. It’s exciting and spectator friendly which are some of the reasons I like it along with the speed factor.’’

Grain started track cycling in 2004 after starting her cycling career on the road.

‘’The crossover from road to track has worked really well,’’ said Grain, a silver medallist in the points race at the 2006 world championships in France. ‘’On the road I’m known more as a sprinter so that comes more naturally to me. So I had no problems going over to track plus having the endurance accumulated from the road is critical on the track as well.’’

Gilbert and Bell raced together in the Madison at an Olympic test event earlier this year in Beijing at the brand new Laoshan Veledrome.

‘’I know that if both of us are in good form and we get some training together we’ll be able to manage our race well at the Olympics,’’ said Gilbert. ‘’We had an opportunity to race on the Olympic track earlier this year. It was really nice but a lot of athletes complained the air quality wasn’t good inside the velodrome. It’s something they’ll need to improve for the Olympics.’’

The track cycling events at the Olympic Games run from August 15-19.