Mandy Marquardt Shines at Pan Am Track Championships

04 September 2018

Race: 2018 Pan American Track Cycling Championships

Location: Aguascalientes, Mexico

Events: Team Sprint, 500m, Sprints and Keirin

Result: 1st Overall Medal Count / 2nd Team Sprint / 6th Sprints / 5th 500m TT / 10th Keirin

Aguascalientes, Mexico – This weekend, Team Novo Nordisk track cyclist Mandy Marquardt, racing with Team USA, showed the world what’s possible with diabetes, earning impressive results at the 2018 Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Mandy Marquardt:

“I’m still so pumped about our Team Sprint silver medal performance. It was a great ride. The following day, I qualified 4th in the Sprints, with a PB (personal best) in the Flying 200m Qualifier. From there, I went on to race the sprint rounds, but got knocked out in the quarterfinals and placed 6th overall. In the 500m Time Trial, I placed 5th overall and was a tenth off my PB and my own U.S. National Record.

In the Keirin, it’s a chess match and when the motorcycle pulls off with 3 laps to go anything can happen. This event is a mind game for me, since I hadn’t had the best luck in the past year, crashing twice already. This year, I was in a stacked semi-final with a Mexican rider and two Canadians, but finished 4th (top 3 go through to the 1-6 final, remaining go to 7-12 minor final). I placed 10th overall in the Keirin.

I went into these Pan Ams, giving it everything I had and I look forward to putting in the continued work. What’s next? Soon they will let us know who will be officially selected for the 2018/2028 UCI Track World Cup Season.

It was an honor to have been a part of an incredible history-making team of athletes, coaches and staff. Thirteen total medals were won! National Records were broken, Pan American Records were broken by the Men’s and Women’s Endurance Team, and a WORLD RECORD was broken in the Men’s Individual Pursuit. This event is the first Olympic Qualifier for Tokyo 2020.”