U.S. Cyclists To Race For World Team Spots At Track National Championships In Carson

Chris Murphy and Aaron Keith will be among the names to watch at the VELO Sports Center track cycling venue in Carson, California, this week as the race toward the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships heats up.

Twelve spots on the U.S. track cycling team for the world championships will be up for grabs at the July 5-9 selection event in Carson. The selection races will be a part of the USA Cycling Track National Championships for Para, elite and junior cyclists.

The UCI World Championships are scheduled for Aug. 3-13 in Glasgow, Scotland. This year, in a historic first, all cycling disciplines for able-bodied and Para-cyclists will be held at the same venue at the same time.

“It’s a big endeavor, for sure,” said Ian Lawless, director of U.S. Paralympics Cycling. “All of these different disciplines that the UCI is managing at once. It should be really exciting. We refer to it as the Super Worlds.”

Keith, a 10-time world championships medalist and a silver medalist in the Paralympic Games two years ago in Tokyo, won three silver medals in the MC1 class at the 2022 track world championships. He has already captured a spot on the U.S. road team for Glasgow.

“He’s a favorite to make both the road and the track teams,” Lawless said. “He has medal potential at the world championships for both.”

Murphy, a 2016 and 2020 Paralympian, is a track specialist who won a silver medal in the 1-kilometer time trial MC5 last year for his eighth career world championships medal.

“He’s one of our favorite contenders to make the track world team as a track specialist,” Lawless said. “I know he’s been flying in training right now. We expect to see superfast things from him in Carson.”

Murphy is among the track riders who have been patiently waiting and training hard for the selection event. Unlike the road cyclists, who had three world cup competitions on the way to the road world selection event held in June in Wisconsin, there are no track world cups.

“I know they’re all champing at the bit, but this will be a big event in Carson,” Lawless said.

Five days of championship racing in Carson will include Para pursuit races July 6, 500-meter and 1-kilometer time trials July 7, scratch races on July 8 and team sprints on July 9.

Nine spots on the U.S. team will be determined through event results, Lawless said. Another three will be discretionary selections.

They’ll join the list of 22 cyclists who were named to the U.S. road team on June 26. Among those on the road team are Paralympians Samantha Bosco, Clara Brown and Oksana Masters, who are all defending world champions.

Bosco, a 2016 Paralympian who won three silver medals at last year’s track world championships in addition to a pair of gold medals at the road world championships, is seeking spots on both the track and road world teams in the WC4 class. Among those joining Bosco in that quest is Shawn Morelli, a four-time Paralympic medalist in WC4 who has won four world titles in track and 16 overall world medals.

John Terrell, who competes in the MC4 class, has already secured a spot on the road team and is seeking a world championships berth on the track team for the second time. He won bronze medals in the omnium and scratch race during his track world championships debut last year.

Hannah Chadwick, a visually impaired cyclist who made her world championship debut last year with partner MK Wintz, is back racing for another world team spot. They finished fifth in the sprint WB at last year’s world championships.

Also in the visually impaired competition is Kym Crosby, who has won three Paralympic medals in track and field.

“We’re excited to see how they are going to race at nationals,” Lawless said.

After the world team is announced, a camp for world team members will be held in late July, just before they head for Glasgow.

U.S. track cyclists won 12 medals at last year’s world championships, including seven silver medals and five bronze medals.

Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USParaSnowboarding.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.