Paralympics: Tristen Chernove wins silver in men’s C1 individual pursuit
Canadian paracycling team is has earned two medals in the first two days of the Games
Canadians paracylists are on a roll—on the first day of the Tokyo Paralympic Games Canadian cyclist Keely Shaw earned a bronze medal in her Paralympic debut and on day two Tristen Chernove grabbed the silver medal in the men’s C1 individual pursuit.
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Chernove also finished second in the qualifying round of the C1 individual pursuit , coming in with a time of 3:40.591, just behind the new world record (3:35.954) set by Mikhail Astashov of the Russian Paralympic Committee.
In the gold medal final, Astashov caught Chernove in the second half of the race to take gold.
With his second place finish Chernove became Canada’s first silver medalist of the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Post-games retirement
The Cranbrook, B.C., cyclist, who has 13 rainbow jerseys and three Paralympic medals, noted that this would be the last Games of his career.
“The qualifying ride went fairly well and I was super thrilled to make it into the final,” said Chernove. “The final was not so great; I knew he [Astashov] would go out fast and I probably started too fast and was having some breathing issues which added to my blowing up that much sooner. It’s a pretty emotional Games for me because I am retiring from paracycling after these Games and devoting much more of my time to my family so it’s going to be a Games of highs and lows but I’m really excited to move on to the next phase.”
His Games aren’t over yet—Chernove still has three races to take on in Tokyo: the C1 time trial on the track, the road race and the time trial.