CYCLING

Kiwi's Silver haul at UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships

By Paralympics NZ


Handcyclist Tim Williams (left). 

The New Zealand Para-Cycling team have shown themselves as a strong team with high hopes for next years’ Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. The team of five has been in great form across the 4-day UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships with a final medal tally of four.

Handcyclist Tim Williams and the tandem pairing of Emma Foy and Laura Thompson achieved the  medal haul of four Silver medals each placing second in their respective Time Trial and Road Race events.  While team mate Stephen Hill made his World Championships debut and took a fantastic 5th  placing.

Jono Hailstone (Head Performance Coach, Para-Cycling) said, "This has been a great World Championships for the New Zealand Para-Cycling team.” He continued, “The UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships is one of two of our most important qualifying events leading into next years’ Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. With just over one year to go until Rio 2016 we are in a great position and we will move forward with confidence and I am very proud of the performances of the team.”

On the final day of competition Tim Williams once again took to the road winning Silver in the Men’s H1 Road Race.  Williams won Bronze in the event in 2014 so a move up the podium was a fantastic achievement for Tim in a very competitive race. Tim stuck to his race plan by not letting the race leaders get away on him and getting himself into second placing within the first half of the race which he managed to hold on to and finish in. The courses provided some challenges for the handcyclists with over 2kms climbing up a steady hill and technical down hills in warm conditions. Tim showed class and courage in the down hills, not letting his crash two days prior on the same course get in the way of his Silver medal.

The Team has had a hugely successful World Cup and World Championships campaign and it will be exciting to see what this talented group of Para-Cyclists can do over the next year in the build to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.