Sixteen Team USA athletes descended upon South America to return to the site of Paralympic Games Rio 2016 track cycling competition for the opening day of the 2024 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships. The first of five days of events, the championships serve as a key qualification opportunity for U.S. selection for the upcoming Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
The dynamic tandem duos consisting of Hannah Chadwick (El Cerrito, California) with pilot Skyler Espinoza (Freeport, Maine) and Michael Stephens (Colorado Springs, Colorado) with pilot Joe Christiansen (Lyons, Colorado) returned to the world’s stage to pick up the first American medal of championships after taking the top three finish in the 750-meter tandem team sprint. The podium appearance also marks the first world championship medal for Stephens and Christiansen fresh off their recent Parapan American Games win last November.
“We made a big improvement from last year,” said Espinoza. “Excited to be back up against Malaysia in the bronze medal match so it felt amazing this time to be able to bring home that bronze medal for Team USA.”
“My wife and child got to watch me – and the rest of us here – win that medal and we got to get redemption for last year,” said Stephens. “If there’s any way to win a team event it may as well as be two team tandems, that was a heck of an event where we came from behind and it’s a great feeling.”
No stranger to the world championship podium, Paralympian Aaron Keith (Woodinville, Washington) garnered his 14th worlds medal with a bronze in his marquee event – the men’s C1 individual pursuit. Keith etched out Spanish rival Ricardo Ten Argiles for the win.
“Strategy wise for me was to get out of the gate as quick as I could,” said Keith. “I wasn’t feeling super well today from some gastro issues but able to overcome that, and a crash that I had last world championships in Glasgow, so I was really unsure how my form would be but I’m super excited about getting off to a good start here in Rio.”
Other strong U.S. performances included a top four finish for Katie Walker (Wilmington, Ohio) in the women’s C5 500m time trial while teammate Clara Brown (Falmouth, Maine) took fifth in the women’s C3 class. Bryan Larsen (Windsor, California) and John Terrell (Converse, Texas) went head-to-head in the men’s C4 omnium with a third and 12th place finish respectively. In the women’s C4 500m time trial, world champion Samantha Bosco (Claremont, California) placed eighth with Shawn Morelli (Meadville, Pennsylvania) taking 11th.
Riders will return to the Rio Olympic/Paralympic Velodrome on Thursday, March 21 for the second day of competition. Full results are available at paraworlds2024.veloresults.com
Credit: US Olympic and Paralympic Committee
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