Canada's Mitchell, Genest advance to quarters of women's keirin in track cycling

Canadian track cyclists Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest both advanced to the quarter-final of the women's keirin at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday.

Mitchell, of Sherwood Park, Alta., finished at the top of her heat with a time of 11.391 seconds, just one-tenth of a second ahead of Mexico's Daniela Gaxiola, who also automatically qualified.

The 27-year-old Mitchell took the lead halfway through the six-lap race and never looked back.

Genest, of Lévis, Que., trailed for much of her heat before finding the perfect moment to come around from the back of the pack and overtake everybody as the final lap approached. From that point, the 23-year-old kicked it into high gear to close out the race in first.

Genest finished with a time of 11.183 seconds, 0.075 ahead of American Madalyn Godby, who also automatically qualified with her top-two finish in the race.

The quarter-finals are set to take place Thursday. 

In the men's team pursuit, Canada's quartet of Vincent De Haître, Derek Gee, Michael Foley and Jay Lamoureux handily defeated Germany to finish fifth.

Canada crossed the finish line at a time of three minutes and 46.324 seconds, with the German squad falling just under four seconds behind.

Bothwell, Ont., native Nick Wammes and Hugo Barrette, of Îles de la Madeleine, Que., were both eliminated from the men's track sprint on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Wammes fell out of contention, losing to Malaysia's Azizul Hasni Awang in repechage two, with an opportunity to move on to the 1/8 final (third round). Wammes landed in the repechage following his loss to Russian Olympic Committee's Denis Dmitriev in the 1/16 final.

Barrette's elimination due to a loss in repechage one, after losing to France's Sébastien Vigier in the 1/32 final, came at the pedals of Malaysia's Shah Firdaus Sahrom, who won their three-man heat that also included Poland's Mateusz Rudyk, who finished last.