Ottawa, ON (Sept. 24, 2024) – Nathan Clement of Vancouver, British Columbia, won his second career rainbow jersey after dominating the T1 men’s individual time trial on Sept. 24 at the 2024 UCI Road Cycling and Para-cycling World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland.

The 29-year-old, who won silver in the same discipline at the Paralympic Games in earlier this month, completed the 11.3-kilometer course in 18 minutes 38 seconds and 16 thousandths, more than a minute and 25 seconds ahead of silver medalist Giorgio Farroni of Italy. Uzbek Aziz Atakhodjaev completed the podium.

Also in para-cycling, Quispamsis, New Brunswick native Alex Hayward added a bronze medal to his collection by finishing third in the C3 men’s time trial, completing the 18.8-kilometer course in 23 minutes, 34 seconds and 76 thousandths, 4.75 seconds behind first place, held by France’s Florian Bouziani. Britain’s Finlay Graham (+2.11s) took silver.

Riders in other categories were also in action. Among the Canadian results, Sidney Swierenga finished in the top-10 in the junior women’s race, Paula Findlay finished 18th in the elite women’s race, while Pier-André Côté achieved the best result in the elite men’s race with a 19th position. Kara Douville (women’s C4), Joey Desjardins (men’s H3), Mel Pemble (women’s C3) and Jessica Law (women’s C5) also finished in the top 10 of their respective categories.

Competition continues in Zürich all week, with the team time trial on Sept. 25 and the road races starting for Canadian athletes on Sept. 26. Full details, including a detailed schedule and complete results, are available on the official UCI Road Cycling and Para-Cycling World Championships 2024 website.

Time trial results: 
Nathan Clement (men T1) – 1st
Alexandre Hayward (men C3) – 3rd
Kara Douville (women H4) – 4th
Joey Desjardins (men H3) – 5th
Mel Pemble (women C3) – 6th
Jessica Law (women C5) – 7th
Sidney Swierenga (junior women) – 10th
Charles Moreau (men H3) – 12th
Paula Findlay (elite women) – 18th
Olivia Baril (elite women) – 30th
Pier-André Côté (elite men) – 19th
Derek Gee (elite men) – 22nd
Adam Smith (junior men) – 34th
Jonas Walton (U23 men) – 36th
Alexandra Volstad (junior women) – 36th
Mikaël Guilbault (junior men) – 47th
Michael Leonard (U23 men) – 55th

Paris, France (Sept. 5, 2024) – Nathan Clement, of Vancouver, BC, won Canada’s fourth cycling medal of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games by taking silver in the T1-2 men’s individual time trial held on September 4 in Clichy-Sous-Bois, on the outskirts of Paris.  

World champion in the discipline, Clement finished on the second step of the podium, 1:17.58m behind the new Paralympic champion, Jianxin Chen of China, who clocked 21:35.78m at the end of the 14.1-kilometer race. Belgium’s Tim Celen (+1:51.86) took bronze.   

“It’s special. It’s my life’s work,” said Clement. “Although I’ve worn different hats as a CP seven-a-side soccer player, as a Paralympic swimmer and now as a Paralympic cyclist, I’m very lucky, because many athletes don’t have the opportunity to compete in two Games, let alone two Games in a different sport, let alone stand on a podium and see the Canadian flag raised.” 

Photo Credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com 

Having both won bronze in the individual pursuit during the track events on August 30, Keely Shaw (WC4), of Midale, SK, and Alex Hayward (MC3), of Quispamsis, NB, both finished fifth in their respective events.   

“I woke up this morning feeling great and super motivated, with the feeling that I was going to have a good day,” said Hayward. “I had a few problems, technical difficulties on the line that forced me to rely a little more on my feel today. And I think because I was feeling so good, I went a bit too fast and paid for it a bit in the end. I’m happy with my result and happy to share it with my friends and family.”  

Hayward finished 1:01.68m behind the race leader, occupied by France’s Thomas Peyroton-Darter with a time of 38:28.80m over 28.2 kilometers, while Spain’s Eduardo Santas Asensio (+43.91s) took silver and Matthias Schindler (+52.55s) of Germany won bronze.    

Shaw finished with a time of 22:09.19, just 29.95 seconds behind winner Samatha Bosco (21:39.24m), who was joined on the podium by Meg Lemon (+4.92s) and Switzerland’s Franziska Matile-Doerig (+5.09s). Her Canadian counterpart Kate O’Brien, of Calgary, AB, who had won bronze in the 500m track time trial, did not finish the race. 

Charles Moreau (MH3), of Victoriaville, QC, and Mel Pemble (WC3), of Victoria, B-C, were also in action on the first day of road racing, finishing seventh and 14th in their respective categories.  

“Seventh place isn’t quite what we hoped and expected, but it was a tough race,” said Moreau, competing in his third Paralympic Games. “It was a longer race than we’re used to, and until the very end, I was still in the race, but I lost some at the end. The others had a better race, that’s how it is. Tokyo was disappointing for me, so I was just hoping that everything would go well with my equipment, and that part went well, so I’m happy, but I would have liked to have been able to keep the pace until the end”.  

Moreau will also be in action on Sept. 5, when he will take part in the road race at 16:05 local time. More information, including results and the full event schedule, can be found on the official Paris 2024 Paralympic Games website.