Ottawa, ON (July 25, 2019) – The Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) and Cycling Canada are thrilled to announce the eight Para cyclists and three pilots who will be competing for Canada at the Lima 2019 Parapan Am Games from August 23 to September 1.

Marie-Claude Molnar will be leading the team, having competed at the Rio 2016 and London 2012 Paralympic Games, as well as the Toronto 2015 and Guadalajara 2011 Parapan Am Games. Molnar captured a bronze medal in the Time Trial at the London 2012 Games and a bronze in the Individual Pursuit at Guadalajara 2011 in her women’s C4 category, as well as numerous Canadian titles along the way.

“I am thrilled and feel honoured to have been selected to represent Canada at the 2019 Parapan American Games,” said Molnar. “I cannot wait to perform at my best and contribute to the team.”

Joining her on the track on August 26-27 will be Canadian ITT champions Lowell Taylor and pilot Andrew Davidson, who will be competing in the men’s Tandem category. The women’s Tandem races will see two NextGen teams competing, including Canadian road champions Carla Shibley and pilot Meghan Lemiski, as well as Annie Bouchard and her pilot Evelyne Gagnon.

Racing will resume on August 30 and September 1 with the road events, with all the athletes taking part in both the ITT and Road Race. Paralympian Rico Morneau (H3) will be competing under Canadian colours, having previously won a bronze medal at the Guadalajara 2011 Parapan Am Games, and will be joined by the track athletes, as well as Michael Shetler (T2), Matthew Kinnie (H2) and Patrick Desnoyers (H5).

“The Parapan Am Games will be a fantastic opportunity for both the athletes and staff to gain some major Games experience,” said Phil Abbott, Cycling Canada’s Para cycling NextGen Coach. “The majority of the athletes have never attended an event of this scale, so this will certainly help them prepare for Tokyo 2020.”

“A huge congratulations to our Canadian Para cyclists heading to Lima!” said Stephanie Dixon, chef de mission of the Lima 2019 Canadian Parapan Am Team. “I’m so excited to welcome each of them to the team, especially the group that will be donning the red-and-white at a Games for the first time. I hope you all have an amazing experience and the entirety of Team Canada is behind you!”

LIMA 2019 PARAPAN AM GAMES PARA CYCLING TEAM

*Paralympian

The Lima 2019 Parapan American Games will take place August 23 to September 1 in Peru and will surpass Toronto 2015 as the largest Parapan Am Games ever with a record 1,850 athletes set to participate. Canada is expecting to send a team of approximately 152 athletes and competition partners in 13 sports. The Canadian Paralympic Committee will announce the official full team heading to the Games later this month.

After winning a total of six medals last weekend, Team Canada started off strong at the second Para Road World Cup, winning four silver medals in the Individual Time Trial. World champion Shelley Gautier of Toronto finished second in the women’s T1 category, while Charles Moreau of Victoriaville also took the silver in the men’s H3 race. On Friday, Tristen Chernove of Cranbrook, BC placed second in the men’s C2 category, with Ross Wilson of Edmonton taking the same spot in the C1 category.  

Competition continues on Saturday and Sunday with the road races for all categories.

“In the past I’ve started too fast and then faded at the end,” said Ross Wilson. “I made a conscious effort to negative split the race. Eight tenths is so close, especially after a training injury less than four weeks ago.”

“We got off to a great start,” said Sebastien Travers, Para Head Coach at Cycling Canada. “The most encouraging result was having three riders in the top eight of the highly competitive H3 class, with Charles second, Alex fifth and Joey eighth.”

Corridonia, Italy (May 10, 2019) – Canada added gold and silver medals to its tally at the opening round of the UCI Para Road World Cup in Corridonia, Italy, on Friday. World champion Shelley Gautier of Toronto won the 8.9 kilometre women’s T1 category time trial with a time of 29 minutes and 32 seconds, while Tristen Chernove of Cranbrook, BC, took silver in the 18 kilometre men’s C2 race, only 3.84 seconds behind Arslan Gilmutdinov of Russia. Michael Sametz was Canada’s only other competitor on Friday in the men’s C3 race, and did not finish after crashing. After two days of competition, Canada has one gold, two silver and one bronze medal.

“It was a fabulous day, Italy always knows how to put on a great para-cycling event,” said Chernove. “The mood of the whole team has been right on target for great results. I had a little mechanical episode on the cobbles, but was really happy to still manage a silver, just three seconds behind. I’m looking forward to the road race on Sunday.”

Ottawa, ON (May 2, 2019) – Canada is sending a strong team of athletes to the first two rounds of the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Cup, including two multi-time world champions. In total, eight athletes will participate in the first round on May 9-12, in Corridonia, Italy, with ten taking part in Round 2, a week later in Ostend, Belgium. These events count towards qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, with riders and nations collecting ranking points that will determine country quotas for the Games.

“We are looking forward to these first road events of the 2019 season,” said Sebastien Travers, Para Head Coach at Cycling Canada. “Italy will be a very interesting course, with key technical features as well as two hills per lap. This will be one of the few courses that is similar to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, so it will be valuable to see how our athletes perform. For the Ostend World Cup, the High Performance team will be joined by a multitude of Next Gen athletes, who will try to qualify for the remaining World Cups, Parapan Am Games and/or Road World Championships.”

Racing at each event will begin with the individual time trials for all categories on the first two days, followed by the road races on the final two days.

World Cup #1 – Corridonia, Italy
Keely Shaw (Women’s C4) – Saskatoon, SK
Shelley Gautier (Women’s T1) – Toronto, ON
Kara Douville (Women’s H4) – Calgary, AB
Tristen Chernove (Men’s C2) – Cranbrook, BC
Joey Desjardins (Men’s H3) – Hawkesbury, ON
Alex Hyndman (Men’s H3) – Morpeth, ON
Charles Moreau (Men’s H3) – Victoriaville, QC
Mike Sametz (Men’s C3) – Calgary, AB

World Cup #2 – Ostend, Belgium
Keely Shaw (Women’s C4) – Saskatoon, SK
Shelley Gautier (Women’s T1) – Toronto, ON
Annie Bouchard (Women’s Tandem) – Baie-St-Paul, QC
Evelyne Gagnon (Women’s Tandem Pilot) – Quebec City, QC
Charles Moreau (Men’s H3) – Victoriaville, QC
Alex Hyndman (Men’s H3) – Morpeth, ON
Lowell Taylor (Men’s Tandem) – Lethbridge, AB
Andrew Davidson (Men’s Tandem Pilot) – Calgary, AB
Ross Wilson (Men’s C1) – Edmonton, AB
Tristen Chernove (Men’s C2) – Cranbrook, BC
Mike Sametz (Men’s C3) – Calgary, AB
Michael Shetler (Men’s T2) – Montreal, QC