TUNNEL VISION

Cyclist Mitchell using 70-km/h winds to be 'fastest girl in the world' again

- KERRY GILLESPIE

Winning an Olympic gold medal is hard; defending that title is even harder. In a three-part series, the Star takes a look at Canadian Olympic champions from the Tokyo Games and the science behind their quest for a golden repeat in Paris.

Sitting still doesn't come easily for Kelsey Mitchell. It's particularly hard when she's holding an aerody namic bike position in a wind tunnel buffeted by winds of 70 kilometres per hour.

This testing, 15 months ahead of her races in a Paris velodrome, is part of Cycling Canada's efforts to boost performance and give Mitchell, who set a world speed record on the track just two years after she started cycling, her best shot to win another Olympic gold medal.

She is hunched over her bike on a platform, elbows at her knees, hands in front on the bars, feet motionless with the pedals locked.

Wisps of blond hair flying wildly around the back of her helmet are the only indication of the forces she is bracing against.

Guy Larose, the senior technical director at RWDI, an engineering consulting firm, is overseeing this testing in Guelph, Ont. Normally, he simulates the effect of wind on long-span bridges and highrise buildings looking to improve construction and stability. With athletes, he measures the aerodynamics of different equipment and body positions in search of the fastest combination, backed by data.

"We're working today with the fastest girl in the world," he says.

"When you know you have the best for you, it's a double advantage-it's like your second wind." Only Mitchell is not the fastest anymore and, more than that, she's struggling on and off the bike.

"Everyone's talking about aerody namics and all these little things where I'm like, I'm going to be s-at the Olympics if I don't get my body sorted," she says later.