In fighting form, UCalgary cyclist Allison Beveridge brings home bronze from Commonwealth Games

Well-decorated already, Allison Beveridge has happily added to her shiny collection.

The Calgary cyclist — four-time medallist at world championships, double medallist at the 2015 Pan-Am Games, bronze medallist at the 2016 Olympics, holder of five titles from the 2017 Canadian championships — earned her latest bauble last week at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.

By beating Great Britain, the Canadian foursome — which also included Ariane Bonhomme, Stephanie Roorda, and Annie Foreman-Roordo — nabbed bronze in the women's team pursuit at the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane.

Australia edged New Zealand in the gold-medal showdown.

"We were definitely expecting to (be on the podium), to be honest," said Beveridge, a third-year student at the University of Calgary, majoring in kinesiology exercise and health physiology. "It wasn't the best performance … we were hoping to be in that gold-medal ride-off.

"But for track cycling, the Commonwealth nations are definitely some of the stronger ones, so it was a pretty strong field here. So to come away with a medal is still something to be proud of."

The Canadians, though, had been ramping up specifically for last month's world championships in The Netherlands, which may explain why Beveridge's performance in the solo races in Brisbane fell short.

"We kind of ran out of steam," said the 24-year-old, "so that was a bit of a disappointment. And a couple of the countries, like the Aussies, skipped worlds altogether to peak for just this event. We couldn't quite match them. In the mix, but not on the right end of where we wanted to be."

It's also worth noting that Beveridge is recovering from a concussion, which she suffered in a wipeout at the worlds.

"I don't remember a couple hours of my life … kind of ragdolled down the track and I was unconscious for a bit of that," she said. "But I got pretty lucky with that and I was able to go back training relatively quickly … but we didn't have the proper training blocks that we needed to, to get things going.

"So I definitely had a bit of a fight this season. There's definitely some things that need to fall back in place. I know they'll clean up a bit."

Now, while many of the athletes are desperate to escape the heat, Beveridge is staying put — her work in Australia isn't over. A track-cycling stalwart, she's also entered in the road-racing event at the Commonwealth Games. Saturday, she'll stare down 112 kilometres and dozens of elite cyclists.

Her expectations? "Kind of depends what the course is like, kind of depends on how it's raced," said Beveridge. "Hopefully, we can stay in the mix … and be around for the finish. We're just taking it as it comes and seeing what we have (left) at this point of the season. We just need to reset and rebuild. So it's just to have some fun and see what we can do out there."

For the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, she'll devote herself solely to track racing. And, no, it's not too early to be thinking about the path to the Summer Games.

"This is definitely a good motivator," Beveridge, a five-year member of the national senior team, said of the measuring stick the Commonwealth Games provided. "The Olympics is the highlight, the one that we prioritize over anything, so it's definitely in the mind. And this was really good prep — it's hot out here, so very similar conditions of probably what you're going to see in Tokyo."