Ethan Sittlington of Elora will be joining 12 others representing Canada at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Italy Aug. 23 to 27.
The 17-year-old Centre Wellington District High School student will be competing with the men’s endurance team.
In just over a year, Sittlington went from road cycling to track cycling, and has had large success in the velodrome.
Riding for National Cycling Centre Hamilton, he won gold with Team Ontario in the team pursuit and bronze in the individual pursuit in February.
He also took the national title at the Canadian National Track Championships in April with Team Ontario.
Sittlington was one second off the standard to make Team Canada for the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) world championships, a moment he called bittersweet.
“It was pretty hard to swallow,” he said. “(But) considering it was my very first time doing that, I was very, very happy.”
A few weeks after discovering he would not be going, a member of Team Canada dropped out and the team asked Sittlington to take his place.
“It took a really long time to even come to grips with everything. (It’s) like a dream come true,” he said.
The team will have a pre-worlds camp at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton Aug. 6 to 16, before leaving for Italy on Aug. 17.
Women’s national endurance coach Craig Griffin is the lead coach on the project.
“I’m thrilled to be leading our best and brightest junior track athletes to Italy in August,” said Griffin in a press release.
“This is an exciting time for Cycling Canada, our programs and athletes as we continue to build upon the ground work that has been laid these past years.”
He added, “There’s a ton of talent here that I’m hoping will deliver multiple top-six performances and, hopefully, a couple of medals at Worlds before these riders graduate into both the men’s and women’s Olympic performance pools in the coming years.”
The teams
The other men’s endurance team members are:
– Gabriel Drapeau-Zgoralski of Montreal;
– Chris Ernst of Kitchener;
– Michael Foley of Milton; and
– Tristan Guillemette of Trois-Rivieres.
The women’s endurance team includes:
– Erin Attwell of Victoria;
– Micaiah Besler of Saskatoon;
– Maggie Coles-Lyster of Maple Ridge;
– Laurie Jussaume of Contrecoeur; and
– Ali Van Yzendoorn of Orillia.
The men’s sprint team includes: Je’Land Sydney of Georgetown and Nick Wammes of Bothwell.
Charlotte Creswicke of Tottenham forms the women’s sprint team.
