PERSONAL BESTS FOR PARA-TRACK CYCLISTS AT SANTIAGO 2023 PARAPAN AMERICAN GAMES
Santiago, CHE (Nov. 23, 2023) – Four para-cyclists switched gears on Nov. 23 at the Velódromo Parque Peñalolén for the Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games in Chile adding two medals to their haul.
Athletes in the C1-5 categories took on the 500m-Kilometre Time Trial in a scorching hot velodrome, where PyeongChang 2018 Paralympian Mel Pemble and Santiago 2023 Time Trial Gold Medallist Alexandre Hayward respectively won silver and bronze.
On a mission, Mel Pemble, of Victoria, BC, stopped the clock with a time of 37.565s, just 0.701s short of victory, ultimately won by Sabrina Da Silva Custodia of Brazil, while Paula Ossa Veloza of Colombia completed the podium with bronze.
“I’m feeling amazing, mainly for the personal best and, of course, the medal is a bonus,” said Pemble. “I knew my times and how it reflected on the competitors here, but anything can happen on race day.”
Taking advantage of his victory in the C1-5 men’s individual road time trial on Nov. 19, Alex Hayward, of Quispamsis, NB, a former wheelchair basketball player and recent convert to track cycling, was able to climb onto the third step of the podium thanks to his time of 1:06.566m, behind Colombians Fabián Edwin Matiz Ruiz (1:04.388m) with gold and Carlos Vargas Villanueva (1:06.538m) with silver.
“I came here with no expectations,” said Hayward. “This is far from my event. I think I’ve only done one other kilo in my life earlier this year and it was five seconds slower. I came here looking for a personal best, and I achieved that, and it just happened to be enough for a podium. Tomorrow’s Individual Pursuit is probably the event that I’ve been looking forward to the most, I’ve had a bit of a bad run at that at Worlds and I would like to redeem myself.”
Although they didn’t make the podium, Paralympic medallists Mike Sametz, of Calgary, AB, and Keely Shaw, of Saskatoon, SK, were pleased with their performances, with their respective times of 1:08.707m and 40.179s, good for fifth and seventh place.
“It was a super fun day out there,” added Shaw, “The track was running fast. Personally, I got over a two second personal best, so while I wasn’t on the podium, I think there’s a lot to take away from today, it’s a really good place to be and a really good mile marker before we go to Brazil in March for World Championships.”
More information, including results and the full schedule of events, can be found at www.santiago2023.org. Competition for Team Canada’s track para-cyclists continues Nov. 24 with the Individual Pursuit.
