Bosco secures double rainbow as Team USA picks up four more medals on road race finale

BAIE-COMEAU, CANADA – Paralympian Sam Bosco (Claremont, California) repeated her perfect performance from the time trial win dominating the women’s C4 road race at the final day of the road world championships to collect her second rainbow jersey of the week. Bosco led the entire six lap course from the start clocking in nearly three and a half minutes earlier than the silver medalist. Bosco’s win brings her career world championship medal tally to 12 with her double wins in Canada being her first world titles on the road. The 35-year-old will return to competition this fall as she sets her sights on a repeat performance at the upcoming UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Paris.

“I’m still taking it all in,” said Bosco. “I think the time trial from Friday finally sunk in and I had my own little moment in the middle of the night on Friday. I got focused on the road race and I’m feeling a really surreal moment to be a double world champion and end the road season on a high note.”

“I always go into the race just trying to go by feel and ride for fun, it’s fun to me and has always been fun so I try to keep it that way. I never underestimate any of my competitors and just followed the tact’s. I was hoping for the best, and by the end that I had good legs that didn’t cramp up.”

In the women’s C3 competition, the U.S. had a double podium appearance as 2022 time trial champion Clara Brown (Falmouth, Maine) secured her first world championship silver in the road race with Paralympic champion Jamie Whitmore (Somerset, California) grabbing the third place spot just behind her. The medal is Whitmore’s first in a world championship since 2018.

“Awesome way to end the world championships with another medal for Team USA and close out the back-to-back weekends,” said Brown. “Medaling in all four events is more than I could have expected or dreamed of, so I’m really excited to end on a high note.”

“It was an intense race and definitely didn’t totally play into my favor,” said Whitmore. “Every time we would make advances, the head wind would hit us, and everybody would just regroup.

“It’s good to have competitors out there and great to have it come down to the finish. It’s exciting; I started this sport when there were three of us so to have our field grow and the C2s to also be so strong - it’s just a testament to the sport itself growing.”

Tokyo Paralympian Aaron Keith (Woodinville, Washington) duplicated his time trial silver with another top two finish in the men’s C1 road race. The silver marks Keith’s seventh career world championship medal win.

“This is my highest place finish in a road race,” said Keith. “I’m super stoked about silver. It was a really tough race today so I couldn’t have asked for more from the team and everybody helping out.”

Other top finishers of the day include a fourth-place finish in the women’s C2 division from eight-time Paralympian Allison Jones (Colorado Springs, Colorado). Newcomers Elizabeth Mis continued to impress grabbing a top eight spot in the women’s C5 class while Kyle Pitman (Lafayette, Colorado) notched a top 12 place in the men’s C5. To round out Sunday’s competition was the men’s C4 division with John Terrell (Converse, Texas) taking ninth and C.J. Howard (Sacramento, California) finishing in the 13^th position.

More than 20 nations descended on the Canadian village of Baie-Comeau for an intense four days of competition at the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships. Team USA leaves with a total of 12 medals for the year – 7 gold, four silver and one bronze - including double wins from Bosco, Kate Brim and Oksana Masters in the culmination of the 2022 Para-cycling season on the road.

Click here for full results of the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships. 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).