Ostend, Belgium, May 5, 2018 – Canada got off to a strong start at the first round of the UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup in Ostend, Belgium, winning two gold and three silver medals in the first two days of competition.

Riders across multiple categories competed in individual time trial events on Thursday and Friday. Michael Sametz of Calgary won the C3 men’s event and Shelley Gautier of Toronto won the T1 women event, while silver medals went to Tristen Chernove [C2 men] of Cranbrook, BC, Marie-Claude Molnar [C4 women] of St Hubert, Quebec, and Charles Moreau [H3 men] of Victoriaville, Quebec.

National Para-cycling Coach, Sebastien Travers, said “Putting Mike’s performance in perspective, this was one of the fullest/most complete fields we have seen in a while. More so, Mike’s time would have placed him third in the MC4 class, which is a stronger class.”

“Tristen opened this first World Cup with a solid performance, finishing second in the MC2 class. This is a very good result as it’s still early in the season. This event allowed us to refine our racing strategy, in the hopes that it is fully established for Road Worlds in August. Marie-Claude rode a solid Time Trial, also coming second in the WC4 class, which is great because she also had great performances at track worlds less than 5 weeks ago.”

Sametz, who is the world champion in the time trial, said, “It was a bit windy out there today, but otherwise conditions were good. I’m glad to see the improvements I have made for this year.”

“It was an amazing result,” admitted Moreau, “I was not expecting to finish second at this first World Cup; It’s the beginning of the year so it is always hard to know where you fit. I was sick for the last month, which was a setback, so I was less confident for this race and I’m happily surprised.”

In other results, Joey Desjardins was eighth and Alex Hyndman was ninth in the men’s H3 category. Nicole Clermont was fifth in women’s C5, and the tandem team of Robbie Weldon and her pilot Audrey Lemieux were fifth. In the men’s tandem, Matthieu Croteau Daigle and his pilot Benoit Lussier were ninth.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 26, 2018 – Canada ended the 2018 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a fourth and final medal – a bronze for Tristen Chernove of Cranbrook, BC, in the men’s C1-3 Scratch Race. This is Chernove’s third medal of these Championships and gives him a complete set of gold, silver and bronze.

The only Canadian riders competing on the final day of competition were Chernove and Ross Wilson of Edmonton, Alberta, a C1 rider in the same race. The teammates worked together to put Chernove in a medal position. Alejandro Perea Arango of Colombia, who took the gold medal ahead of Chernove in the 1000 metre time trial, lapped the field to win the world title, with Chernove losing to Darren Hicks of Australia in the sprint for silver. Wilson finished tenth, the second C1 category athlete in the race.

“It’s been a great time here,” said Chernove, “with a little bit of deja vu from Rio [Paralympics] – a gold, a silver and a bronze! I’m very happy with the teamwork that Ross and I put together to get me up on the podium. It was definitely a team effort. Ross was continually attacking and that allowed me to not be marked, like I have been in the past. I got a little confused at the end because the bell rang with two to go [for race leader Perea Arango, a lap ahead] and I missed my jump for the sprint, unfortunately. But, I’m really happy with the result and really happy with the teamwork.”

Sebastien Travers, Para Head Coach for Cycling Canada, summarized the project, which saw Canada win a total of four medals – one gold, two silver and one bronze.  “I’m very happy with the team’s results, with four medals. We also had two fourth place results and a tremendous fifth place for newcomer Keely Shaw [Saskatoon, Saskatchewan]. Overall, I’m pleased with how we stand compared to other nations that were here for these world championships; the level of competition was quite high. So we know exactly where we stand and exactly what we have to do. All of this cannot happen without the strong support of Cycling Canada and the Canadian Paralympic Committee, and a huge thanks to our staff, who worked tirelessly all week.”

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 24, 2018 – Tristen Chernove of Cranbrook, BC, added a silver medal on Friday to the gold he won on Thursday at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships. The Championships are taking place at the Velodromo Municipal do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the site of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Chernove came into the 1000 metre time trial for C2 men as the defending champion, after having successfully defended his Individual Pursuit title.  However, he came seven-tenths of a second (0.709 seconds) short of the gold medal, finishing second to Alejandro Perea Arango of Colombia, after problems on his opening lap. Chernove was only fifth fastest on his opening lap (over 1.4 seconds slower), but fastest on the next three laps; not enough to make up for his problems at the beginning of the race.

“I’m glad I didn’t fall in my slip and wobble on the opening lap but it cost me some time,” admitted Chernove. “It was amazing to see a new competitor in the C2 category, the Colombian who won. A great addition to the C2 athletes and I’m looking forward to racing him in the near future.”

The only other Canadian rider to compete on Friday was Ross Wilson of Edmonton, Alberta, who finished fourth in the men’s C1 1000 metre time trial. Zhangyu Li of China, the Paralympic champion, won with a time of one minute and 12.586 seconds, 6.978 seconds ahead of Wilson.

Ottawa, Ontario, March 16, 2018 – Cycling Canada has selected a small but powerful team of four riders for the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 22-25. Canada won seven medals, four gold and three silver, at the 2017 world championships.

The team will include the three athletes who won medals last year; men’s C2 category rider Tristen Chernove of Cranbrook, BC, men’s C1 athlete Ross Wilson of Edmonton, Alberta, and women’s C4 rider Marie-Claude Molnar of St-Hubert, Quebec. Joining them will be NextGen athlete Keely Shaw of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who will be classified prior to competition.

Chernove and Ross will each be defending their two world titles in the 1000m Time Trial and Individual Pursuit. Molnar won three silver medals at the 2017 world championships, in the 500m Time Trial, Individual Pursuit and Scratch Race. Chernove won silver and bronze medals and Wilson won a silver medal on this same track at the Rio Paralympic Games.

“The Para team is looking forward to going back to the Rio velodrome, where our team lived great experiences at the Paralympics in 2016,” said Sebastien Travers, Para-cycling Head Coach at Cycling Canada. “We are going to these championships to try to maintain our world champion titles, but we are also looking forward to gathering UCI points, as this is the first event on the track to qualify for the Tokyo Paralympics.”

“Our team is looking very good with some of our veterans, but we are also seizing the opportunity to get up-and-coming athletes a first exposure to international classification.”