A cyclist from Vancouver is voicing her concerns after she and her fellow athletes were taken by surprise by Cycling Canada’s announcement regarding the absence of a women’s team pursuit squad at this year’s world championships.
Fiona Majendie expressed that this decision leaves the five women who form the backbone of the team with no opportunity to qualify for the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Majendie, who was part of Canada’s team pursuit that secured eighth place at the Paris Olympics two years ago, remarked, “Honestly, it was quite shocking.”
“As an athlete, you are always striving for selection and improving both personally and as a team, but you never anticipate that your program will just be eliminated,” she added.
The announcement was made last week through an email from national team coach Phil Abbott, who referenced “current budgetary constraints” and concluded that it was “unlikely” the women would meet their performance goals at the 2026 world championships in Shanghai this October.
Olympian Fiona Majendie states that the Canadian women’s team pursuit squad received no forewarning about the program’s potential cancellation. Cycling Canada CEO Mathieu Boucher offers a response.
In contrast, the Canadian men’s team pursuit remains intact and will participate in Shanghai.
This decision has ignited criticism on social media, including from retired Olympian Clara Hughes, who described it as “a massive bummer.”
Hughes, who has earned Olympic medals in both cycling and long track speed skating, voiced her discontent: “This is unnecessary and unacceptable. Cycling Canada should be ashamed.”
In a conversation with CBC News, Cycling Canada CEO Mathieu Boucher stated that the choice to forgo participation in the women’s team pursuit at the world championships is a strategic one.
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Boucher clarified, “This decision was not made due to funding issues. It was made based on the performance and competitiveness of the team, and the necessity for us to refocus where we can truly make a difference and rebuild that team.”
Performance gap
Boucher explained that data analyzed by Cycling Canada indicates that the men’s team pursuit has a higher likelihood of success, as the “gap” in race times needed to achieve a top-four finish is significantly smaller than that of the women’s team.
He noted, “The men’s team is performing better and is demonstrating a closer gap to bridge, in addition to showing improvement at a faster rate.”
However, Majendie contends that any performance analysis conducted by Cycling Canada has not been shared with the women who have been sidelined.
“We have never been presented with this performance analysis, and I believe it is rather subjective to claim that the gap is too significant,” she stated.
“What can you expect when there is no development pathway? Additionally, we haven’t received any metrics regarding how to achieve our goals.”
Boucher acknowledged that Cycling Canada is reassessing its communication with athletes.
“If the performance objectives were not communicated clearly to the team, that is certainly something we are taking note of and must address immediately,” he remarked.
Majendie and her teammates are contemplating financing their participation in the world championships and the 2028 Olympics on their own.
“We are quite confident that we could achieve our goals if we were willing to invest our own finances and time over the summer to conduct camps together—independently of Cycling Canada—to establish our own development pathway,” she explained.
“We are all eager to pursue this because, frankly, we have nothing to lose.”
When asked about the possibility of self-funding, Boucher stated that the current composition of the women’s team pursuit has been deemed non-competitive.
Canada’s women’s team pursuit has previously earned bronze medals at the Olympics in 2012 and 2016, and came in fourth in 2020.
