Bronze medals for Clement and Gautier at UCI Cycling World Championships

DUMFRIES, Scotland – Nathan Clement of West Vancouver and Shelley Gautier of Toronto each won a bronze medal on Friday as Canada’s Para cyclists continued their daily roll to the podium at the UCI Cycling World Championships.

After three days of road races, Canadian Para riders have six medals (one gold and five bronze) in addition to the five earned on the track in Glasgow earlier this week.

In a fierce men’s T1 (tricycle) 31.2 kilometre road race, it was a 1-2 Chinese finish with Rongfei Lu first in 56 minutes and 30 seconds and Jianxin Chen second in 1:04.14 under ideal conditions. Clement, the gold medallist Wednesday in the time trial, followed closely in 1:04.28.

‘’It’s an incredible feeling,” said Clement, a 2016 Paralympian in swimming. ‘’It’s been a long journey to get to this point. To be able to walk away from these world championships going up against some amazing riders and to get a gold and a bronze is just an honour.”

Clement, who had a stroke at age two which caused him to lose mobility on one side of his body, only started bike racing competitively last season and exploded on the international scene with two silver medals at last year’s worlds.

At this year’s event he saw a more intense, more tactical side to the sport.

‘’There was a lot of gamesmanship going on,” said Clement, 28. “I’m still new to the sport so I’m still trying to earn that respect in the ranks. Some of the emotions got pretty heated but I was able to pull away with six kilometres to go.”

Gautier, an 18-time world champion, collected her second bronze this week in the women’s 24.8 kilometre T1 time trial. Pavlina Vejvodova of Czechia took the gold and Eltje Malzbender of New Zealand was second.

Gautier, 54, appeared in the media mixed zone completely spent having given every ounce of energy she possessed in the race.

‘’It was tough,” said Gautier, a three-time Paralympian, injured in a mountain biking accident in 2001 which caused a severe head injury and left her in a coma for six weeks. She was diagnosed with hemiparesis on the right side of her body.

‘’I was focusing on my legs, to get my feet moving and keep them moving. I said to myself, ‘pedal to the mettle and stay focused’ and that’s what I did. You can see that with my result.’’

The competitors come and go but Gautier always seems to be on the podium at every world championship since her first global title in 2009.

‘’We’ve got all these new people in the category and it’s just wonderful,” she said. ‘’They are learning, sometimes from my mistakes and learning new things. They are great. I’m very happy to be amongst them and be included on the podium.’’

The T1 and T2 categories in Para cycling are for athletes with impairments that affect their balance and co-ordination.

Other Canadian road race results Friday: Kara Douville of Calgary was sixth in the women’s H4, Matthew Kinnie of Riverview, N.B., eighth in the men’s H2, Louis-Albert Corriveau-Jolin of Ste-Claire, Que., 14^th in the men’s T2 while in the men’s H3 Alex Hyndman of Morpeth, Ont., was 17^th, Joey Desjardins of Hawkesbury, Ont., 19^th and Charles Moreau of Victoriaville, Que., 22^nd.

Road cycling action continues Saturday with more road races featuring Keely Shaw of Midale, Sask. and Mike Sametz of Calgary, both bronze medallists in Thursday’s time trials.

Full results: https://www.tissottiming.com/2023/pcrdwch?day=221