Bosco, Brown secure career first road world championship titles in Baie-Comeau
by Annemarie Blanco
BAIE-COMEAU, CANADA – Sam Bosco (Claremont, California), Clara Brown (Falmouth, Maine) and Aaron Keith (Woodinville, Washington) added three additional pieces of hardware to Team USA’s medal tally on the second day of time trial competition at the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships. The two golds and one silver bring the United States’ medal total to five. The wins marked a first in world titles for Paralympians Clara Brown and Sam Bosco who have each achieved the coveted wins on the track but not yet in road competition.
For Bosco, the championship title was an emotional moment for the Californian after an intense year of recovery to comeback from a training accident which caused her to miss the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. The 35-year-old returned this season with a fury sweeping the women’s C4 class with a win in every competition to become the 2022 overall world cup champion.
“No pun intended but it’s the rainbow after the storm for me,” said Bosco. “It’s a really sweet and surreal moment for me. It takes a little bit of the pressure off for the road race, but I’m still focused on trying to win another rainbow jersey there as well. I’m just going to live in this moment and enjoy saying I’m a world champion.”
Brown is no stranger to the top of the podium having taken two titles in her track world championship debut however the women’s C3 world title in the time trial is a special one as Baie-Comeau is the city to which she competed for her first world cup in 2018.
“I’m so excited to be on top of the world in the time trial and I want to continue this into the road race,” said Brown. “Expectations were to execute a race plan and hope that would be good to get me on the top step. I felt incredible on the course, it was one of the best TTs I’ve had to date, and my legs were there. The results show that so I’m very happy.”
Keith notched the first 2022 medal for the men of Team USA with a silver in the MC2 time trial, only five seconds behind the top rider of the day. The podium appearance marks the Paralympian’s fourth overall world championship medal already grabbing a bronze and two golds in his storied career.
“It’s really interesting to be back in Baie-Comeau, it has a special place in my heart since my first international race was here back in 2012. I won a time trial then came back to win a world championship here, so it has a special place in my heart. It’s really nice to be back and been a great experience here so far. Today has given me a big motivation to try to stay with the top two guys in my class and stay to the end with them in the road race, and hopefully add another medal.”
A total of ten U.S. riders took to the championship stage on the second day of competition, all of which finished in the world’s top twelve. First-timers John Terrell (Converse, Texas) and C.J. Howard (Sacramento, California) finished sixth and ninth respectively in the highly competitive men’s C4 competition while international newbie Kyle Pitman (Lafayette, Colorado) took a 12th place in the MC5. Paralympians Jamie Whitmore (Somerset, California) and Allison Jones (Colorado Springs, Colorado) rounded out the top five in the women’s C3 and C4 races while Elizabeth Mis (Medina, Ohio) grabbed a sixth-place finish in the WC5. The first rider of the day Noah Middlestaedt (St. Cloud, Minnesota) took home 11th in the MC3.
Competition returns on Saturday, August 13 with the first set of road races in the handcycle and trike classes. Click here for full results of the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships. A live stream of the event is available to view on UCI’s event website.
Follow U.S. Paralympics Cycling on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for Team USA’s latest news and updates. For photo and interview requests, contact Annemarie Blanco (annemarie.blanco@usopc.org).