Canada’s Kate O’Brien earns silver in Tokyo Paralympics C4 500-metre time trial

In her Paralympic Games debut Kate O’Brien took the silver medal in the C4 500-metre time trial on Friday in Tokyo. It was Team Canada’s third medal after Tristen Chernove’s silver in the C1 individual pursuit on Thursday and Keely Shaw’s bronze in the C4 individual pursuit on Wednesday.

And it's a silver medal for @empty_kate ? in the Women's C4-5 500m Time Trial @CyclingCanada pic.twitter.com/IwqCmvf2Qf

— Canadian Paralympic Committee (@CDNParalympics) August 27, 2021

O’Brien was second fastest to Kadeena Fox of Great Britain, who posted a time of 34.433, a new world record. O’Brien stopped the clock at 35.439.

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, O’Brien made her debut at the UCI Para Cycling Track Championships in Milton, ON at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre. There, she set the world record in women’s C4 500m time trial with 35.223 to take home the gold.

Before a 2017 training accident at Calgary’s Glenmore Velodrome that left her with a traumatic brain injury, O’Brien raced on the boards in the sprint and team sprint disciplines. At the 2015 Pan American Games she was a gold medal winner in the team sprint with Monique Sullivan and took silver in the individual sprint. Partnered with Amelia Walsh in the team sprint she earned silver at the Los Angeles round of the 2016-2017 UCI Track Cycling World Cup.