What To Watch In Para At The UCI Cycling World Championships

Samantha Bosco, Oksana Masters and Clara Brown are defending champions for the event, which runs through Aug. 13 in Glasgow, Scotland.

When Samantha Bosco and Shawn Morelli made their Paralympic debuts in 2016 in Rio, they competed and won medals in both the road and track disciplines.

Seven years later, not much has changed.

Bosco, a 15-time world medalist and a defending champion in the road time trial and road race, and Morelli, a 16-time world medalist, are among four American cyclists who’ll compete in both road and track events at this month’s UCI Cycling World Championships. Joining them in a double-discipline chase for medals is Aaron Keith, a 2020 Paralympic silver medalist, and John Terrell, a two-time bronze medal winner on the track at last year’s world championships.

Following some preliminary-round races on Thursday, the world championships kick off in earnest Friday and run through Aug. 13 in Glasgow, Scotland. Para track competition is Aug. 2-9 with Para road competition Aug. 9-13.

The event is part of the qualifying process for the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, though it’s not a direct qualification event.

In all, 26 U.S. athletes will race in the Para portion of the world championships, which for the first time include all of the sport’s disciplines in the same location.

On The Road

Bosco, a two-time Paralympic bronze medalist in 2016, has been unbeatable in the WC4 class in 2023 and 2022. She won every world cup competition the last two years and clinched the 2023 world cup title in her class with victories in the time trial and road race at the world cup final in Huntsville, Alabama. In the road race event at Huntsville, Bosco and Morelli finished one-two.

Bosco, 17-time Paralympic medalist Oksana Masters and 2020 Paralympian Clara Brown are defending world champions. Bosco (WC4) and Masters (WH5) both won double gold medals in 2022 in time trial and road race, and Brown (WC3) won a gold medal in the time trials.

They are among 22 riders and a number of Paralympians on the U.S. road team.

Morelli (WC4) has won three Paralympic gold medals, including two consecutive gold medals in the time trial, and 12 world championships in road and track. Masters, meanwhile, is set to make her cycling season debut after missing all of the world cup races with an injury.

Allison Jones (WC2), an eight-time Paralympic medalist who is seeking to make her ninth Paralympic team next year, won five bronze medals during world cup competition this year. Whitmore (WC3), a two-time Paralympic medalist, has won 21 world medals in road and track.

Alicia Dana (WH3), a three-time Paralympic medalist, and Masters will be joined by Jenna Rollman (WH3) in the women’s handcycling competitions.

Elizabeth Mis (WC5) is in her second world championships after finishing sixth in the time trial and eighth in the road race last year.

Keith (MC2), who won a silver medal in the time trial in his Paralympic debut two years ago, is a 13-time world team member with 10 world medals. Terrell and C.J. Howard will compete in MC4, and Noah Middlestaedt will race in MC3.

Two-time Paralympians Freddie De Los Santos (MH5) and Travis Gaertner (MH4), along with 2020 Paralympian Ryan Pinney (MH3), lead a group of eight U.S. handcyclists in the men’s competition. Also competing are Brandon Lyons (MH3), Owen Daniels (MH5), Barry Wilcox (MH1), Cody Wills (MH2) and Zachary Stinson (MH2).

Two-time world medalist Dennis Connors will compete in the MT2 (tricycle) class.

On The Track

Joe Berenyi has won four medals in three Paralympic Games to go with 16 medals in 11 world championships appearances. Competing on the world stage for the first time since the Paralympic Games two years ago in Tokyo, Berenyi is back in the world championships this year in Glasgow, competing in the MC3 class.

The worlds will feature a farewell appearance by retiring two-time Paralympian Chris Murphy, who has won two world titles among his eight world medals in MC5.

A strong U.S. squad also includes Keith, who won three silver medals at last year’s world championships held at the Paris 2024 venue; Bosco, who also won three silver medals last year; and Morelli, who broke the WC4 pursuit world record at the Paralympic Games in 2016 and won a world title in pursuit two years later.

Terrell will compete in MC4, Bryan Larsen in MC5 and Katie Walker in WC5.

The U.S. will have a pair of tandem teams: Michael Stephens with pilot Joe Christiansen on the men’s side, and Hannah Chadwick and pilot Skyler Samuelson in the women’s competition.

Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USSpeedskating.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.