With a successful start to the World Cup season, Canada’s Para cycling team looks to capitalize on home soil advantage for the 2022 Para Cycling Road World Championships, which run from August 11-14 in Baie-Comeau, Que.
More than 550 riders from 40 countries are expected to invade the small town known for its pulp and paper industry, situated 420 kilometres east of Quebec City along the St. Lawrence River’s north shore.
There are seven Paralympians on Team Canada including five from last summer’s Tokyo 2020 squad. Keely Shaw was the star rider for Canada in Tokyo with a bronze on the track in the C4 individual pursuit and fourth place on the road.
Below, learn a little bit more about all 15 Canadian athletes who will take on the world in Baie-Comeau:
Nathan Clement, T1, West Vancouver
Former national Para swimming team member Nathan Clement made a big splash in his World Cup debut last weekend in Quebec City with silver medal performances in the T1 (Tricycle) time trial and road race. In 2016, Clement placed seventh in the 50-m butterfly at the Rio Paralympic Games. In 2020, a 1,000 kilometre bike trek through B.C. to raise awareness of what people with disabilities can achieve re-ignited his competitive fire.
Louis Albert Corriveau Jolin, T2, St-Claire, Que.
Quebec’s Louis Albert Corriveau Jolin is a long-time rider in national and international Para cycling. He was a member of Canada’s 2011 and 2015 Parapan Am Games teams. More recently he was seventh twice at last year’s worlds and won both the time trial and the road race at nationals in Edmonton in June.
Joey Desjardins, H3, Hawkesbury, Ont.
Joey Desjardins was the only member of Cycling Canada’s 2020 NextGen squad to make the Paralympic Games team for Tokyo. He posted Canada's best results in his category in Tokyo placing eighth in the road race and 11th in the time trial.
Kara Douville, H4, Calgary
Kara Douville continues to better her ranking at the national and international level. She cracked the top-five in the road race at last year’s worlds. In 2022, she has competed on the World Cup circuit and was a double national champion.
Shelley Gautier, T1, Toronto
The legendary Shelley Gautier reclaimed her world titles in the T1 time trial and road events in June 2021 in Portugal. Also in 2021 she competed at her third Paralympic Games, posting two top-10 finishes.
Alexandre Hayward, C2, Quispamsis, N.B.
Alexandre Hayward is a former member of Canada’s national junior wheelchair basketball team. He is also showing talent in Para cycling and solidified his spot for the worlds team with his double gold performance at nationals.
Alex Hyndman, H3, Morpeth, Ont.
Alex Hyndman made his Paralympic Games debut at Tokyo 2020. At the 2019 world championships, Hyndman posted two sixth-place results. His international breakthrough was at the 2018 worlds, when he won the bronze medal in the time trial.
Matthew Kinnie, H2, Riverview, N.B.
Matthew Kinnie, the 39-year-old president of ParaSport New Brunswick, looks to build on last year’s strong road world championships where he cracked the top-five in both races. An engineering graduate and father of twin girls, he won gold in the time trial at the 2019 Parapan American Games.
Marie-Claude Molnar, C4, Longueuil, Que.
Veteran rider Marie-Claude Molnar, a bronze medallist in the time trial at the 2012 Paralympics, heads to Baie-Comeau as the defending double world champion in her category. On the 2022 World Cup circuit she has won a time trial bronze and added three fourth-place finishes.
Charles Moreau, H3, Victoriaville, Que.
Two-time Paralympic bronze medallist Charles Moreau is another veteran presence in the highly competitive H3 events. Coming off a less successful Paralympics last year, Moreau will be chomping at the bit to get back on the world podium for the first time since 2017.
Keely Shaw, C4, Midale, Sask.
Saskatchewan’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2021, Keely Shaw is Canada’s top-ranked rider heading into the worlds. She won bronze on the track at the Paralympics and has collected four medals on the World Cup circuit this season. She was a contender for the women’s national hockey team before her accident in 2009.
Carla Shibley and pilot Meghan Brown, Tandem, Calgary
It’s been a successful partnership so far for Carla Shibley and her pilot Meghan Brown. They burst on the scene in 2019 with double gold at the Parapan American Games and were subsequently named Closing Ceremony flag bearers. The duo gained more valuable international experience last year at the worlds in Portugal.
Lowell Taylor, Lethbridge, Alta. and pilot Benoit Lussier, Bromont, Que., Tandem
Discovered at a Canadian Paralympic Committee Paralympian Search in 2015, Lowell Taylor enters the worlds with new guide Benoit Lussier. Taylor was a double silver medallist at the 2019 Parapan Ams and cracked the top-10 in the time trial at the 2021 worlds. Lussier has competed as a guide at past worlds.
The time trial races are set for August 11-12 and the road races on August 13-14. For more information, visit: ParaCyclismeBaieComeau.com.
