{"id":44020,"date":"2026-05-13T21:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/44020\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T21:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:44:19","slug":"five-canadian-cyclists-seeking-arbitration-after-womens-team-pursuit-dropped-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/44020\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Canadian cyclists seeking arbitration after women\u2019s team pursuit dropped: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Canadian women’s pursuit team races at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Milton, Ont., in 2022.Peter Power\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Five Canadian cyclists are challenging Cycling Canada\u2019s decision not to send a women\u2019s team pursuit squad to this year\u2019s UCI Track World Championships in October, escalating the dispute to arbitration.<\/p>\n

The CBC reported on Wednesday that Skyler Goudswaard, Fiona Majendie, Jenna Nestman, Lily Plante and Justine Thomas are appealing to the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada in a bid to have the decision overturned and the women\u2019s team reinstated for the championships, scheduled for October 14\u201318.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s team pursuit program is unaffected and remains set to compete.<\/p>\n

Cycling Canada defended its position, calling it \u201ca performance-based decision informed by objective, evidence-based analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile difficult, it was made in the best interest of the program\u2019s long-term success,\u201d the federation said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The decision has cast doubt over the women\u2019s team pursuit pathway to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with the world championships in Shanghai serving as the first Olympic qualifying event.<\/p>\n

Majendie, one of the riders appealing the decision, voiced her frustration in a recent social media post.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Canadian women\u2019s track team is where 100 per cent of the Olympic medals have come from in the last 30 years,\u201d wrote Majendie, a member of Canada\u2019s team pursuit that finished eighth at the Paris Olympics two years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the last Olympics, the women\u2019s team have continued to outperform or equal the performance of the men\u2019s team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Majendie said the team had never been given objective performance standards or told that if it did not meet standards, the program would be at risk of being cut.<\/p>\n

Cycling Canada\u2019s decision drew swift criticism on social media, including from Canadian Clara Hughes, a six-times Olympic medallist in cycling and speed-skating, who called it \u201ca massive bummer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot necessary and inexcusable. Shame on Cycling Canada for this,\u201d Hughes wrote.<\/p>\n

Canada has traditionally been strong in the women\u2019s team pursuit, winning Olympic bronze medals in 2012 and 2016 and finishing fourth at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Canada is currently ranked 12th in the women\u2019s team pursuit and 13th in the men\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

Cycling Canada said results during the current Olympic cycle \u201cwere not trending towards medal winning potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, performance during competition and training did not indicate that these gaps were likely to be closed in time for the LA2028 Games,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The federation said it is \u201ctaking deliberate steps to strengthen athlete development moving forward,\u201d through investments in the Junior Track World Championships in August, among other competitions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Canadian women’s pursuit team races at the UCI Track Nations Cup in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-44020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-travel","51":"tag-trudeau","52":"tag-us-news","53":"tag-world-news","54":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}