LONDON, England -- Canadas womens pursuit team set a Canadian record and guaranteed itself a medal at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup on Thursday, finishing first in the qualifying heats. Blake Bortles Jersey . Competing in Londons Velodrome -- the venue that will host the track cycling events at the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games -- Tara Whitten, Gillian Carleton and Jasmin Glaesser finished their heat in 3:20.785 to set up a Friday evening gold-medal final versus the home crowd favourites, Great Britain. "Its a really exciting time for our team right now," said Whitten, who is also a podium favourite in the womens omnium, which begins Saturday. "When we had our trials in LA, we saw that all five of us are produced fast times. It makes the decision really hard for the coaches, and pushes us to be at our best every day, and makes the team a lot faster. Canada raced early in the schedule, as the fifth of 15 heats, and the venue was almost half empty as the team began whipping around the bends just after 6 p.m. GMT. It was the fifth heat ever run on the Olympic track. As the splits started show better-than World Record times, however, the crowds initially lacklustre cheers started to gather intensity. Canada went on to finish 1.22 seconds outside of the record time. "What struck me most tonight was the crowd," said Carleton. "You can tell the people here are crazy about cycling. I could hear during the race the announcer amping the crowd with every split that showed up on the time board, which I would normally never do. "I just thought that was the most motivating to do. Its very exciting to hear when youre on pace for the World Record, but at the same time, it doesnt register too much, because were still focused on the execution of the plan, and what were supposed to do. Its still a great morale boost." Track cycling has been one of Great Britains most successful Olympic endeavours, with four-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy and world champion Victoria Pendleton headlining Britains mens and womens teams, respectively. Due largely to the teams success on the track, cycling is expected to be one of the most popular events of the London 2012 Olympic Games. By the time Great Britain rolled its bikes onto the track for the second last heat of the day, the venue was packed and the crowd was roaring. Britains riders, Laura Trott, Wendy Houvenaghel and Joanna Rowsell quickly caught Canadas lead. By the end of the first 2,000m, Great Britain was eight-tenths of a second in the lead. British fans pushed their riders at every split but, despite the home-crowd support, Britain fell behind in the final 250m of their heat. Canada will race against Britain in the womens team pursuit gold-medal final scheduled for Friday. Australia will face the Netherlands for bronze. In the mens team pursuit, which had no Canadian entries, Australia and Great Britain will face off in the gold-medal final on Sunday. Australia edged Great Britain by 0.56 seconds to finish first in qualifying with a time of 3:57.885. New Zealand will face Belgium for the bronze. The UCI Track Cycling World Cup continues through Sunday. CTVOlympics.cas Jennifer Lukas is in London this week, reporting on the UCI Track Cycling World Cup and Olympic test event from the Velodrome. Follow her updates on Twitter at @JenniferLukas and join in the conversation at @CTVOlympics. - with files from the Canadian Cycling Federation Will Blackmon Jaguars Jersey .Y. -- While Jon Bon Jovi is interested in becoming an NFL owner one day, hes not currently pursuing the Buffalo Bills, the New Jersey rockers publicist told The Associated Press on Monday. Arrelious Benn Jersey. Gerrard stroked home the spot kick after Sascha Riether fouled Daniel Sturridge in the 90th minute. After routing Arsenal 5-1 at Anfield on Saturday, Liverpool had to come from behind twice for a precious victory at Craven Cottage.ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- John Elway led Denver to the Super Bowl faster as a front office executive than he did as a quarterback. On Wednesday, the Broncos extended his contract, which was set to expire after this year, through 2017 and added general manager to his title of executive vice-president. Team President Joe Ellis lauded the work Elway has done so far, saying hes "demonstrated great vision and leadership in his role, assembling a championship calibre team and positioning it for sustained success." Elway, who will speak publicly on Friday at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, said in a statement that he was grateful for the opportunity and "we remain relentlessly committed to delivering a world championship" to Denver. The Broncos are coming off their first AFC title in 15 years but they were blown out 43-8 by Seattle in the Super Bowl, a result that was eerily similar to the first three of Elways five Super Bowls before he capped his Hall of Fame playing career with back-to-back titles in 1998 and 99. Asked at his end-of-season news conference last week how long it took him to get over those losses, Elway said, "Im not over them yet. I just added this one to it." The Broncos have gone 37-17 since Elway rejoined the team on Jan. 5, 2011, when owner Pat Bowlen brought him back to rescue a franchise reeling from a nosedive under Josh McDaniels that bottomed out with a 4-12 season, Denvers worst in four decades. Elways first order of business was hiring coach John Fox, who has led Denver to three straight AFC West titles and is expected to sign his own long-term extension soon. Next on Elways to-do list was changing the losing culture that had enveloped his beloved Broncos while he was away honing his managerial skills by running restaurants, car dealerships and an indoor football league franchise. That began with a roster makeover. "I think No. 1, we had to clean up the locker room. We had to get to get the locker room right," Elway said last month. "... that is really the life bread of what the organization is all about. How that locker room fits is the most important thing." Although its early to render a verdict on his draft acumen, Elway has unquestionably hit the jackpot in free agency, first by luring Peyton Manning to Denver in 2012 and then last year by signing Wes Welker and Louis Vasquezz, who in 2013 became the NFLs only free agent signee to earn All-Pro first-team honours. Will Taufoou Jaguars Jersey. . Other free agents -- notably Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Terrance Knighton and Shaun Phillips -- helped Denvers defence weather an injury epidemic in which six starters missed significant playing time. "Its been my goal to really continue what Pat Bowlen created in the fact that people want to play here," Elway said last month. "So players will come here late in their career when they know they have a chance to win a world championship." Manning has thrown for 100 touchdowns and 11,336 yards in his two seasons in Denver and this season won his fifth MVP award. He is planning to play in 2014 and perhaps another year after that. Elway has said he doesnt want to just win now, but from "now on," and how backup quarterback Brock Osweiler performs whenever Manning retires will go a long way in determining whether Elways long-term vision will pan out as well as his short-term fixes have. The Broncos ended a six-year playoff drought in 2011 when they went 8-8 with Tim Tebow at quarterback, beating Pittsburgh in the playoffs before losing to New England. Elway lured Manning to Denver that spring and traded away Tebow the next day. "Tim Tebow was so popular, John Elway is the only one who could have pulled that off," wide receiver Demaryius Thomas said. The Broncos went 13-3 in 2012 but a crushing loss to Baltimore in the playoffs left a scar that drove them to another 13-3 season last year. This time, they beat San Diego and New England in the playoffs to reach their first Super Bowl since Elway was leading them from the huddle. Elway has made more than 600 transactions since rejoining the Broncos, and he acknowledged some difficult decisions await as he shapes the roster for 2014. Although the Broncos came up way short in the Super Bowl, Elway promised to navigate this off-season with the notion that this loss will drive Denver to do something no team has done since Buffalo in 1993 -- reach the Super Bowl the year after losing it. "The bottom line is were going to work as hard as we worked this year, if not harder, and continue to do that with the mindset that we want to be world champions," Elway said, "and were going to do everything we can to get there."Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
