Liam Killeen (England) (Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Team England's Liam Killeen and Canada's Marie-Helene Premont won Commonwealth Games gold medals in last week's Commonwealth Games in Lysterfield, Australia.
Under hot skies, Killeen, who finished third in the Manchester, England Commonwealth Games four years ago when he was just 20, finished ahead of teammate Oli Beckingsale, a 29-year-old cyclist from Bristol and 2002 silver medallist, Canada's Seamus McGrath.
Killeen finished in 2:13:11, just 15 seconds ahead of his teammate and 32 ahead of McGrath.
"It's a pretty special feeling and it hasn't completely sunk in yet," said Killeen in a statement released by Team England. "I'm happy I've come here and achieved what I set out to do. I was aiming for gold throughout. (Chris) Jongewaard built up a solid lead and I wasn't sure whether we'd be able to reel him in, but as the race moved on we could see that we were catching him up." Killeen and Beckingsale overtook the Australian National Champion in the final lap and battled each other for the top spot.
In the women's race, Marie-Hélène Prémont (Château-Richer, QC) with a commanding two-minute lead. The young French-Canadian led the race from the start. The twenty-eight year old Canadian champion and Olympic silver-medallist said, "It was a very good race today considering that this is the start of the season for the Canadians," in a press release from Team Canada. "My legs felt good and I was able to execute my plan of pushing the pace from the start. The heat was intense, about 30C, good chance that I liked it!"
Click here for complete Commonwealth Games Men's and Women's MTB results and reporting.
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