Canadian Para track cyclist Mel Pemble added another world-championship medal to her collection on Wednesday as this year’s edition kicked off in Rio de Janeiro.
The 23-year-old claimed silver in the women’s C3 500-metre time trial with a time of 39.573 seconds, finishing just 0.093 seconds behind China’s Wang Xiaomei at the Rio Olympic Velodrome. Aniek van den Aarssen of the Netherlands took bronze in 39.659.
Victoria’s Pemble told CBC Sports she has been focusing on the Olympic event during training with her sights set on Paris. She finished third at last year’s worlds before going on to successfully defend her omnium title, based on a combined score from four races.
She is also set to compete in the 200m flying start in Rio, which she holds the world record in, along with the 3km individual pursuit, 10km scratch race and team sprint, the latter alongside Alexandre Hayward and Kate O’Brien.
O’Brien and fellow Canadian Paralympian Keely Shaw also competed in a 500 time trial on the opening day, finishing fifth and ninth, respectively, in the women’s C4 category. Calgary’s O’Brien was just 2.386 seconds shy of the winning time of 36.675 by Great Britain’s Kadeena Cox.
New Zealand’s Anna Taylor (38.558) and China’s Li Xiaohui (38.605) clinched silver and bronze, respectively.
“It was a good first day for us here in Rio,” said Canadian national team coach Sébastien Travers. “It’s always incredible to see athletes achieve their best-ever performance on race day. That was the case for Mel Pemble and Keely Shaw today, and we’re very pleased. Mel’s medal is a balm on her performance in 2023, where she had some difficulties with the starts.”
Source Agencies
