Arbitrator puts Dylan Bibic on Canada’s team for track cycling world championships

VANCOUVER — An arbitrator has made the rare decision to overturn a national sports organization’s team selection, placing Dylan Bibic on Canada’s team for the upcoming UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

Bibic, from Mississauga, Ont., is ranked seventh in the world in men’s track endurance cycling. His performances over the past two years earned Canada its berth in the omnium event at the world championships, but he was still passed over for the international competition in Santiago, Chile.

The 22-year-old was excluded after Cycling Canada changed the criteria for competing in the omnium — and only the omnium — by eliminating 2024 track results from consideration on Dec. 16, 2024.

The omnium is a multi-race endurance event often considered track cycling’s all-around test.

“Arbitrators are generally reluctant to make selection decisions themselves, but will do so if the situation is urgent or if fairness is a concern,” said Bibic’s lawyers in a joint statement on Monday. “Having found bias in an already urgent appeal, it was unsurprising that the arbitrator felt compelled to make the selection herself.”

Bibic filed a complaint with the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada on Aug. 12, alleging that a 135th-ranked cyclist was chosen instead of him after he filed a 2024 safe-sport complaint against a person involved in the team’s selection process.

Dr. Emir Crowne and Amanda Fowler represented Bibic in the SDRCC arbitration. In a written statement, they said that the arbitrator’s ruling was expected.

“Nonetheless, it still boggles the mind why or how a national sport organization would select an athlete ranked 135th over one ranked seventh in the world, and then go to great lengths to justify that selection,” they wrote. “Canada should be sending their best. It’s just that simple.”

The arbitrator noted that Canada’s spot in the omnium was secured through Bibic’s individual points and ranking, including his 2024 achievements.

Bibic’s accomplishments in 2024 included winning the UCI Champions League against the world’s top-ranked riders, a bronze medal at that year’s world championships, and three Nations Cup gold medals, including a win in omnium.

Because the track cycling world championships begin on Oct. 22, arbitrator Praveen Sandhu found that Cycling Canada must include Bibic on its team rather than go through another selection process.

The arbitrator found that Cycling Canada did not establish a clear line of reasoning in its submissions and that even if it was acting in good faith, it failed in its “duty to explain” how it was acting in good faith.

Sandhu noted in her decision that it’s “rare for an athlete to have direct evidence of personal bias” because they often have to rely on circumstantial evidence. She added, however, that such evidence can accumulate and eventually tip the balance of probabilities to make a perception of bias reasonable.

She wrote that in this case, the perception of bias is reasonable.

Sandhu also said in her decision that no meeting minutes or notes were produced to show when or why Cycling Canada decided to treat the omnium differently from other track cycling events.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2025.