Two Ottawa cycling athletes joining Team Canada for Paris 2024

Mike Woods and Derek Gee, two local cyclists, have been named to Team Canada for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which is kicking off on July 26.

Cycling Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee announced the roster of Team Canada cycling athletes nominated to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Twenty-one cycling athletes were chosen, including athletes from Ottawa, Orillia, Mississauga, Gatineau and more.

Woods, 37, and Gee, 26, both from Ottawa, are two of four cyclists that will be competing in the road race event.

Woods began cycling at age 25, following a series of injuries that ended his running career. He holds the record for the fastest mile run on Canadian soil.  

He made Canadian history when he won a bronze medal in the road race at the 2018 UCI World Championships. This marked the first medal won by a Canadian man competing in the event, in 34 years.

A few weeks prior, the International cyclist won the 17th stage of the Vuelta a España for his first Grand Tour stage victory and finished second in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day classic — making him the first Canadian to ever reach the podium in that race, wrote the 2024 Canadian Olympic Committee on their website.

During Woods’ Olympic debut at Rio 2016, he competed after breaking his hand only weeks before the Games. This notably impacted his performance, placing 55th.

Woods faced another injury in 2020; however, this time he had enough time to recover prior to the Tokyo Olympics.

“In March 2020, a crash during the Paris-Nice race resulted in a fractured right femur that required surgery, but the postponement of Tokyo 2020 would give him time to recover,” said the Official Olympic Team website.

Following a full recovery, Woods finished fifth in the men’s road race at Tokyo 2020, Canada’s second-best Olympic result ever in the event.

Paris 2024 will mark the third Olympic appearance for Woods.

“Woods will race in Paris alongside former track cyclist Derek Gee who is coming off winning a stage of le Critérium du Dauphiné, his first international victory,” said the Official Olympic Team website.

Cycling competitively since age nine, Gee has contributed to Canada’s rise in the men’s team pursuit, said the Canadian Olympic Committee.

During his debut, Gee played a key role in their fifth-place finish in the men’s team pursuit on the velodrome at Tokyo 2020. This marked Canada’s best Olympic result in the event since 1932.

The 2019 UCI Track World Championships was a career highlight for the cyclist, where the team surpassed expectations by racing for the bronze medal against a highly experienced Danish squad, finishing fourth overall.

“I’m unbelievably excited to represent Canada for my second Olympic Games in Paris this summer,” Gee said. “Tokyo 2020 was an experience of a lifetime and was a real privilege to race with the maple leaf on my back on the world’s biggest stage. I think it’s truly going to be unparalleled, especially at the cycling events.”

Road cyclists were chosen based on their performances on the world stage in 2023 and 2024 and their suitability to the Olympic course, the committee said.

The road races will take place on August 3 and 4th, starting and finishing on Pont Léna in front of the Eiffel Tower, Dan Proulx, Cycling Canada’s National Team Head Coach, said.

“The courses head into the countryside southwest of Paris before looping back to a city-centre circuit that climbs over the iconic cobbled streets of Montmartre three times,” he said.