Team USA concluded the 2015 UCI Para-cycling World Championships with three road race medals to finish second in the medal count after five days of competition in Nottwil.
Alicia Dana (Putney, Vermont) won her second silver medal of the week in the women’s H3 class. Dana finished as the runner-up to Francesca Porcellato of Italy in the road race.
"It was really awesome to have my family here," Dana said. "My daughter has never seen me race before and it was so exciting for me to have her here. One always hopes for gold and shoots for gold, so it’s a little bittersweet, but I feel pretty good about my race. I worked really hard and I managed to make up a lot of time in the later stages of the race."
Will Groulx (Portland, Oregon) also won his second silver medal of the championships in the H2 class. Groulx finished just over a minute behind Luca Mazzone of Italy and more than three minutes ahead of the bronze medalist Anders Backman of Sweden.
Already a decorated athlete and Paralympic medalist in rowing and Nordic skiing, Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky) picked up her first Para-cycling championships medal with a third place finish in the women’s H5 road race. The field remained tightly bunched with four women racing together throughout the race and finishing within 20 seconds of one another.
"It feels so unreal right now to have a medal," Masters said. "I know that I don’t have as much time on the bike as my competitors, so I just tried to be a sponge out there and learn and watch and mimic. Coming down the final stretch I didn’t know where fourth place was, but I couldn’t look back and I wasn’t going to get too excited until I finished. It was so amazing to cross the line and know that I was getting a medal."
Masters finished ten seconds off of champion Andrea Eskau of Germany, and gapped fourth place by eight seconds to secure her spot on the podium.
Oz Sanchez (San Diego, California) and Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kansas) were in the fight for a medal in the early stages of the men’s H5 road race, but were unable to hold on for a podium finish. Sanchez crossed the line in fifth, with Cnossen sixth.
Team USA won 18 medals during the five days of competition with five gold, eight silver and five bronze medals. Only Germany won more medals, with 21 podium finishes.
The U.S. Paralympics cycling team will have a quick turnaround as competition at the Parapan American Games begins on Aug. 8 in Toronto.
For more information, contact:
Katie Branham, U.S. Paralympics
katie.branham@usoc.org
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