Eleven athletes named to track cycling world championships team

Team USA poses at the Velodrome in Carson, California. 

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – U.S. Paralympics Cycling today announced the six women and five men chosen to represent Team USA at the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France.

Team USA was selected based on performances at last month’s USA Cycling Para-cycling Track National Championships. The roster features world and Paralympic champions, as well as a host of newcomers looking to make their mark in their track world championships debuts.

“We were incredibly impressed with the quality of racing at our selection event,” Ian Lawless, Director of U.S. Paralympics Cycling, said. “Based on those results, we were able to put together a team that has the potential to be among the best in the world in France. We are confident that our athletes will represent their country well both on and off the track.”

Leading the charge and looking to continue the most dominant season of her career is two-time Paralympic medalist Samantha Bosco (Claremont, California). After a training accident kept her from competing at Tokyo 2020, Bosco has since been on a tear. The road season saw her sweep both time trial and road race world championship titles, and she won the WC4 overall world cup title on the road. This will be her first international track competition since the 2020 track world championships, where she medaled twice.

Joining Bosco in the WC4 classification is 2020 Paralympic champion Shawn Morelli (Meadville, Pennsylvania), who won Team USA’s only track cycling medal in Tokyo. The four-time Paralympic medalist is looking to add onto her impressive resumé that includes 12 world championship titles between the road and track disciplines.

2020 Paralympian Clara Brown (Falmouth, Maine) will also compete in her second world championships in three months after winning gold in the time trial at the road world championships in August. Brown is the defending time trial world champion in the track discipline, and will look to repeat her performance from the 2020 competition in the WC3 classification.

Rounding out the women’s team is newcomer Katie Walker (San Diego, California) and the tandem duo of Hannah Chadwick (El Cerrito, California) and pilot Mary-Kate Wintz (Cincinnati, Ohio). Walker, a former Para track and field athlete, began her Team USA cycling career at a virtual training talent identification camp in March 2021 and has quickly proven herself in the WC5 classification. Chadwick and Wintz, meanwhile, have been training together long distance since 2019 but recently relocated to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to live and train in the same place.

Two-time Paralympian Chris Murphy (Rancho Cucamonga, California) leads an experience men’s team that also includes 2020 Paralympic silver medalist Aaron Keith (Woodinville, Washington) and track cycling veteran Justin Widhalm (Bridgeport, Nebraska). A track cycling specialist, Murphy is looking to add onto his seven career world championship medals – including two titles.

Keith is coming off his Paralympic debut last summer, where he claimed silver in the MC1 road time trial competition. He also has seven world championship medals to his name, and is set to make his 12^th world championships appearance, including five track worlds. Similarly, Widhalm, a U.S. Army veteran and former collegiate wrestler, makes his sixth track world championships team.

Making their track world championships debuts are John Terrell (Converse, Texas) and Bryan Larsen (Placerville, California). An outstanding road season led to Terrell’s first road worlds berth in August, and he will make back-to-back debuts after an impressive performance in the MC4 classification at track nationals. Larsen, likewise, is relatively new to para-cycling. A lifelong cyclist before a 2019 racing accident led to limited use of his arm, Larsen is competing in his first major international Para competition.

World championship competition runs from Oct. 20-23 at the Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, which will also host track cycling competition at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024. Follow U.S. Paralympics Cycling on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for news and updates throughout competition.

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

U.S. Track World Championships Roster

Women

Samantha Bosco (WC4)

Clara Brown (WC3)

Hannah Chadwick with pilot Mary-Kate Wintz (WB)

Shawn Morelli (WC4)

Katie Walker (WC5)

Men

Aaron Keith (MC1)

Bryan Larsen (MC5)

Chris Murphy (MC5)

John Terrell (MC4)

Justin Widhalm (MC4)