All but one member of the U.S. Olympic track cycling team was announced Friday:
Kelly Catlin — Team Pursuit
Chloe Dygert — Team Pursuit
Sarah Hammer — Omnium; Team Pursuit
Jennifer Valente — Team Pursuit
Ruth Winder — Team Pursuit
Matt Baranoski — Keirin
TBD by April 1 — Omnium
The U.S. earned two track cycling medals at London 2012, silver in the women’s team pursuit and team pursuit member Sarah Hammer‘s omnium silver. Hammer is the only returning Olympian from those listed above.
Hammer automatically qualified for the Olympic team by taking omnium bronze at the World Championships on March 6. Hammer and the team pursuit squad also took gold at Worlds, the first team gold for U.S. men or women in a track cycling event at a World Championships or Olympics.
Every member of that team pursuit squad was named to the Olympic team.
The U.S. hasn’t earned an Olympic men’s track cycling medal since 2000. The two-man team for Rio matches its smallest track contingent since 1928, according to sports-reference.com.
Baranoski could be joined on the Olympic team by Jake Duehring, who finished 20th out of 20 cyclists in the World Championships omnium in March.
Or he could be joined by the last U.S. man to earn a World Track Cycling Championships medal, two-time Olympian Bobby Lea. Lea tested positive for noroxycodone on Aug. 8 and was banned 16 months, but the suspension was reduced to six months, making him eligible to compete before the Olympics.
