COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – Sixteen athletes – including four pilots – will don the Stars and Stripes at the 2024 UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships next month, U.S. Paralympics Cycling today announced. Competition, which will be held at the Rio Olympic Velodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, runs March 20-24.

The event has major implications for Team USA’s roster at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, as it will serve as a U.S. selection race for the Games.

“As we gear up for Paris, this is one of our most important events on the track,” Ian Lawless, Director, U.S. Paralympics Cycling, said. “We are very excited about the team we are fielding for Rio and to see how they are going to perform on the world stage – it should be a great indicator of where we stack up in the Paralympic year.”

Headlining the Team USA squad are multi-time world champions Samantha Bosco (Claremont, California), Clara Brown (Falmouth, Maine), Joe Berenyi (Aurora, Illinois), Aaron Keith (Woodinville, Washington), and Shawn Morelli (Meadville, Pennsylvania).

Seeking her first track worlds gold medal since 2017, Bosco will look to carry her success on the road to the velodrome. The two-time Paralympic medalist has added four world titles to her resumé since 2022, all of which came on the road. At the 2023 track world championships, she earned a silver and two bronze medals.

Brown, meanwhile, returns to the track world championships stage for the first time since 2022, when she found the podium three times. She will be joined by Morelli, who is looking to add to her 16 world championships medals in her 14th world championships appearance across road and track. Morelli, a three-time Paralympic champion, last won a track world championship medal in 2020, when she earned bronze in the track pursuit.

With a combined 28 world championship medals between them, Berenyi and Keith will serve as the veterans on the men’s roster. Keith, a 2020 Paralympic silver medalist, won four silver medals at the 2022 track world championships and added two bronzes at the 2023 edition of the event. Berenyi is looking to find the world championships podium for the first time since 2020. The four-time Paralympic medalist’s last world title came in 2019, when he won the MC3 time trial competition.

Tying a Team USA record for the most tandem teams on a track world championships roster, four American duos will represent the U.S. in the visually impaired competitions. Led by the duo of Hannah Chadwick (El Cerrito, California) and pilot Skyler Espinoza (Freeport, Maine), who won their first world championship medal as a team in 2023, Team USA will also feature the 2023 Parapan American Games champions Michael Stephens (Colorado Springs, Colorado) and his pilot Joe Christiansen (Lyons, Colorado).

Joining them in the tandem races are world championships rookies Amy Dixon (Pound Ridge, New York) and Branden Walton (Windsor, California), who will compete with their pilots, former professional cyclists Laurel Rathbun (Monument, Colorado) and Spencer Seggebruch (St. Louis, Missouri). Dixon, a former paratriathlon national champion, makes her international debut as a Para-cyclist. Walton, meanwhile, is a former Para track and field junior world champion.

Rounding out Team USA’s roster are three riders with world championship experience. John Terrell (Converse, Texas) is making his fifth world championship appearance. He recently set the UCI hour record in the MC4 classification. He is joined by Bryan Larsen (Windsor, California) and Katie Walker (Wilmington, Ohio), both of whom are set for their third career world championships.

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The full roster can be found below.

Men

Joe Berenyi (Aurora, Illinois)

Joe Christiansen (pilot) (Lyons, Colorado)

Aaron Keith (Woodinville, Washington)

Bryan Larsen (Windsor, California)

Spencer Seggebruch (pilot) (St. Louis, Missouri)

Michael Stephens (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

John Terrell (Converse, Texas)

Branden Walton (Windsor, California)

Women

Samantha Bosco (Claremont, California)

Clara Brown (Falmouth, Maine)

Hannah Chadwick (El Cerrito, California)

Amy Dixon (Pound Ridge, New York)

Skyler Espinoza (pilot) (Freeport, Maine)

Shawn Morelli (Meadville, Pennsylvania)

Laurel Rathbun (pilot) (Monument, Colorado)

Katie Walker (Wilmington, Ohio)

For media requests and photo inquiries, please contact Kristen Gowdy at Kristen.Gowdy@usopc.org.

Sixteen Athletes Named to Team USA for the 2024 UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships

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