Roundup: Samantha Bosco Finds ‘Wall of Champions’ in Return to Rio

Share:

by Paul D. Bowker

Samantha Bosco poses with her silver medal at the 2024 UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships. (Photo by Casey Gibson/USOPC)

Every other week we scour the web for the latest going on in the world of U.S. Para-cycling. Here’s what you missed!

Blood, Sweat, Tears

Samantha Bosco, who made her Paralympic debut in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and won a pair of bronze medals, took time to visit the “Wall of Champions” during her return to the Brazilian city for the UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships this month.

“Outside the velodrome here in Rio sits the Wall of Champions, which includes the names of each of the 2,568 athletes who won medals in the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Bosco posted on Instagram. “A little reminder of the blood, sweat, and tears we accumulate in our athletic endeavors.”

And here’s a TV feature on Bosco that appeared on KCAL9 in Los Angeles.

Bosco reached the podium for a silver medal in the individual pursuit C4 event, marking her 22nd career medal at the world championships level and her best finish in this event. In total, Team USA brought home five medals, including four bronzes.

Team Sprint Bronze

The five-day competition in Rio opened on March 20 with a U.S. medal in the 750-meter tandem team sprint. Two duos of Hannah Chadwick and pilot Skyler Espinoza joined with Michael Stephens and pilot Joe Christiansen to earn a bronze medal.

“This event is such a joy and privilege to be a part of,” Espinoza said on Instagram. “It’s two teams coming together in a special way, and I feel really lucky to have gotten to do it with Hannah, Michael and Joe.

“This was a rematch of the bronze medal final from last year and it made it extra sweet to be able to walk away with the hardware this time around! All four of us have poured so much into our training, and it showed.”

An American Spirit

John Terrell was even more determined following his third world championships appearance in Rio. He wrote about it on Instagram.

“Gratitude fills my heart for the privilege of representing the United States on the global stage, a testament to the resilience and tenacity that define the American spirit,” he said. “With each challenge conquered and every success celebrated, I am reminded of the boundless potential that lies within us all, waiting to be unleashed through perseverance and unwavering determination.”

Perfect Partnership

Among those making their world championships debuts in Rio were Amy Dixon, a 2020 Paralympian in triathlon, and Laurel Rathbun, a former pro cyclist.

They both live in the San Diego area and joined up as riding partners just six months ago, in time to make a run at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.

“Pilots are like unicorns,” Dixon, a rider with visual impairment, told USParaCycling.org. “It’s a marriage, it’s chemistry, it’s work ethic. It’s so many things. It’s great to have somebody super strong in the front of the bike, but that’s just part of it. If you don’t have good chemistry, a good working relationship with your guide, it just doesn’t work. We’ve seen so many really talented blind athletes just flame out because they can’t find the right pilot.

No flaming out here.

“At heart, we’re both just like 16-year-old girls that love Starbucks and love dogs,” says the 27-year-old Rathbun.

Read more about their journey here.

Following Her Dream

Road cyclist Elizabeth Mis Neag is a data analyst for a well-known food company, J.M. Smucker. She plays the saxophone and is pretty good at it, considering her music is on Spotify, YouTube, Apple and Amazon. Check the link below.

And then, there’s the cycling. She is a two-time world championships team member rising up in the WC5 ranks who competed in her first Parapan American Games this past November.

“Going to the Olympic/Paralympic Games had kind of always been my one dream with cycling,” said Mis Neag, who finished fourth, just behind reigning world champion and 2016 Paralympian Samantha Bosco, at the Parapan Ams.

Read more about her cycling journey here.

And here’s a piece of her music, via YouTube.

Read More#