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Cycling Canada announces roster for the 2017 paracycling road world championships

Talented roster of 13 athletes headed to South Africa

Canada’s paracyclists earned nine medals at the Rio paralympics last year. At the upcoming 2017 para-cycling road world championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, 13 athletes will represent Canada. The team includes multiple Rio paralympic and world championship medalists making it a a very talented squad. The competition takes place between Aug. 31 and Sept. 3. The athletes will travel to South Africa on Aug. 24 to 25 and are all scheduled to compete in both the time trial and the road race events.

Shelley Gautier of Toronto will be a medal hopeful after winning bronze in Rio and earning multiple world championships titles in the T1 category. Marie-Claude Molnar will compete in the C4 category, Nicole Clermont will race in the C5 category, and the tandem team of Shawna Ryan and Joanie Caron will also be flying the Canadian flag in South Africa.

Tandem team of former world and Paralympic champion Robbi Weldon and her tandem pilot Audrey Lemieux declined their selection as they continue to recover from a crash suffered earlier in the season.

Tristen Chernove will lead the men’s team in the C2 category and it will be hard to improve on his performance in Rio where he found success on the road and track winning a gold, a silver and a bronze medal. Ross Wilson who won two silver medals in Rio will compete in the C3 category. Charles Moreau (H3) who won two bronze medals in Rio and Rio bronze medalist Michael Sametz (C3) will also make the trip to South Africa where they will hope to continue the success they earned in Brazil.

The team for Pietermaritzburg is complete by Alexander Hyndman and Joey Desjardins both racers in the H3 category, and tandem team of Matthieu Croteau Daigle and his pilot Benoit Lussier.

“We are impatient to compete against the top international elite athletes,” explained para head coach Sebastien Travers. “This will be the first major event since the Rio paralympic games in September last year. The Canadian team is composed of very strong athletes and we are really looking forward to seeing them perform and step onto the podium in Pietermaritzburg.”

Team Canada for the 2017 para-cycling world championships

Shelley Gautier – T1 (Toronto)
Marie-Claude Molnar – C4 (St Hubert, Que.)
Nicole Clermont – C5 (St Denis de Brompton, Que.)
Shawna Ryan – Tandem (Saskatoon, Sask.)
Joanie Caron – Tandem Pilot (Rimouski, Que.)
Matthieu Croteau Daigle – Tandem (Sherbrooke, Que.)
Benoit Lussier – Tandem Pilot (Montreal, Que.)
Ross Wilson – C1 (Sherwood Park, Alta.)
Tristen Chernove – C2 (Cranbrook, B.C.)
Michael Sametz – C3 (Calgary)
Charles Moreau – H3 (Victoriaville, Que.)
Alexander Hyndman – H3 (Morpeth, Ont.)
Joey Desjardins – H3 (Hawksbury, Ont.)

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