Canada captures team sprint silver, team pursuit bronze at UCI Track Nations Cup in Milton, Ont.

Canadian track cyclists secured a pair of podium finishes on the first full day of competition at the UCI Track Nations Cup on Friday in Milton, Ont., with silver in women's team sprint and bronze in women's team pursuit.

Olympic medallists Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest teamed up with Sarah Orban for team sprint silver, finishing just 0.413 seconds behind Mexico (47.001).

"This is very close to our best time. Going for the gold medal, we had nothing to lose and we really gave it our all," Genest said in a release. "The points we earned today are beneficial for Olympic qualification. We were not at our best at the Jakarta Nations Cup so it's really nice to be back to where we were last year and to be back here at home."

Poland finished ahead of Great Britain to claim bronze in 47.569.

WATCH | Canada finishes with silver in women's team sprint:

Racing together for the first time in the team pursuit, Canada's Sarah Van Dam, Maggie Coles-Lyster, Ariane Bonhomme and Erin Attwell edged the U.S. for bronze earlier on Friday at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre.

The Canadian team reached the podium with a time of 4:15.961 — 3.144 seconds ahead of the Americans.

"This gives us confidence. We're a new team and since the Tokyo Games, we've been trying to rebuild our program," Bonhomme said. "We knew we were capable of doing this but everything needed to come together on race day. We've been trying for more than a year and today everything worked out. We know that this is the start of something special."

Great Britain won gold in 4:12.539, finishing ahead of Germany (4:13.511).

WATCH | Canada claims bronze in women's team pursuit:

Canada's Mathias Guillemette, Carson Mattern, Dylan Bibic and Michael Foley just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in the men's team pursuit after posting a personal best in the qualification round. France finished ahead of the Canadians for bronze, while Great Britain took home gold ahead of the Italians.

Canada's men's team sprint squad was also fourth, with Tyler Rorke, Nick Wammes and James Hedgcock finishing just behind Great Britain. The Australian team captured gold ahead of China.

Bibic, Van Dam and Guillemette also competed in the elimination race, finishing seventh, 10th and 12th, respectively.

Watch live coverage of Day 2 action on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem, starting Saturday at 5:55 p.m. ET.

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