Tara Whitten

Tara Whitten
	Tara Whitten (2010)
To person
Date of birth	July 13, 1980
nation	Canada
discipline	Road / train
Driver type	Endurance / time trial
End of career	2016
Most important successes
	Olympic games 2012 - team pursuit 2011 - Omnium 2010 - Omnium, points race
	Last updated: July 24, 2018

Tara Whitten (born July 13, 1980 in Toronto , Ontario ) is a Canadian former cross-country skier and former cyclist who rode on track and road .

Athletic career

Skiing

Tara Whitten grew up in Edmonton . She is versatile in sports; initially she was active in cross-country skiing and cross-country skiing . In cross-country skiing, she mainly took part in the Cross-Country Skiing Continental Cup from 1998 to 2007 . She ran her first of eight individual World Cup races in January 2001 in Soldier Hollow , which she finished in 42nd place in the skiathlon . In February 2003 she won the silver medal in the sprint at the U23 World Championships in Valdidentro . At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf in 2005 , she finished 53rd in the skiathlon and 48th place over 10 km freestyle. She achieved her best individual result in the World Cup in December 2005 in Vernon with 37th place in the sprint.

Cycling

In 2008 Whitten started cycling and immediately became a two-time Canadian champion in the points race and in the single pursuit and took two third places in the scratch and 500-meter time trial . In the 2008/20 World Cup season she took several podium places. At the UCI Track World Championships in 2009 in Pruszków , Tara Whitten was runner-up in the Omnium , and in 2010 in Ballerup, Denmark, she was double world champion in Omnium and points.

Whitten drove numerous road races throughout 2009. In June she was able to win the overall ranking of the Tour de Prince Edward Island ; three weeks later she became the Canadian road individual time trial champion . In July 2009 she finished second in the individual time trial on the road at the Pan American Championships. At the UCI Road World Championships 2009 in Mendrisio , she finished eighth. A year later she won three bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games : in the team sprint, in the individual pursuit and in the points race. In the 2010/2011 season she won the overall ranking of the track cycling world cup in the Omnium and at the end of the season she won the world championship in the same discipline. At the 2012 Track Cycling World Cup in London , she finished second in the team pursuit together with Jasmin Glaesser and Gillian Carleton . At the UCI Track World Championships 2012 in Melbourne , the Canadian team came third in the same line-up. In May 2012 she won the prologue for the stage race " The Exergy Tour ", which she finished in 16th place.

At the 2012 Olympic Games in London , Tara Whitten won the bronze medal in the team pursuit together with Gillian Carleton and Jasmin Glaesser. She then took a three-year break from competition to complete her degree in neuroscience . She received her PhD in January 2016.

In 2015 Whitten won the silver medal in the individual time trial at the Pan American Championships. The following year she suffered in March during the visit of the route of the Olympic road race in Rio de Janeiro an accident when they drove into a bus; she was passed out and broke her collarbone. She was unable to train for two months and her participation in the Olympics was in jeopardy. In June 2016, however, she became Canadian time trial champion and was finally able to start in the individual time trial of the Olympic Games in Rio; she finished seventh. Then she ended her cycling career.

Professional

Tara Whitten holds a degree in biology and psychology from the University of Alberta and completed her PhD in neuroscience in June 2016. From autumn 2016 she accepted a scholarship at the University of Calgary .