On the second day of track competition at the Paris Olympics stadium, Canada's women's team pursuit athletes barely advanced to the next round and remained in contention for the bronze medal when the referee did not ring the bell on the final lap.

The trio, led into the last kilometer by Erin Atwell, appeared to have finished in a three-way tie, but the referee belatedly rang the bell, sending the athletes into a panic. [Maggie Coles-Leister told Cycling News. 'The first time I was in the lead and didn't hear the bell.'

"I was pretty sure that was the last one, but then the bell rang as the three of us lined up to finish. The race could be over, so I said, 'Go, go, go, go!' There was a moment of, 'Go, go, go! I think Ariane or Sarah passed me on the last lap, but I panicked a little bit, and the 17-lap chase was not ideal.

Sarah Van Dam pulled through on the last lap for the team, telling Cycling News, "We've always done this ride in training. We always run this ride in training and when the additional laps show up, "Where did they come from?" I think.

The team may have finished eighth out of 10 teams, but they qualified for the next round. To advance to the bronze medal round, they would have to have the third or fourth fastest time out of the remaining eight teams.

Only the top four teams from New Zealand, the United States, Great Britain, and Italy could compete for the gold medal.

Given that two athletes have contracted food poisoning in the past week, Atwell told Cycling News that getting another chance was a major accomplishment.

"In the last four days, two people have had some pretty serious bacterial infections, probably from contaminated food in the hotel," he said. Just getting to the starting line today was a small victory."

"I think it's pretty exciting going into tomorrow. We have another day to recover and getting the pre-race jitters out of our system will be key tomorrow."

No matter what happens, Olympic newcomers Atwell, Coles-Lister, Van Damme, and Ariane Bonhomme, who finished fourth in Tokyo, can be proud of their runs.

"I think we are one of the three countries that made it. So just qualifying is quite an accomplishment," Atwell said.

Coles-Leister agreed. It's great to qualify and to be riding in front of an audience. Up to this point it has felt like another World Championships because it's not in a busy satellite village.

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