Canadians Shaw, O'Brien look for more medals at Para-cycling track worlds

Four athletes will represent Canada at the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, with an equal mix of accomplished Paralympians and newcomers competing against the world's top talent.

The four-day competition kicks off Thursday at the Vélodrome National de St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, which will also be the cycling venue for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Canadian Paralympic medallists Kate O'Brien and Keely Shaw are joined by Mel Pemble and Alexandre Hayward — two athletes making their Para-cycling track worlds debuts.

O'Brien and Shaw will be chasing the podium in the C4 category, which includes riders with coordination affected to a low level on one side, in the lower back and legs, or the absence of limbs. They will both be competing in the women's 500-metre time trial, individual pursuit, omnium, scratch race, and the team sprint events.

O'Brien and Shaw have enjoyed major success in recent years, with both reaching the podium in their impressive Paralympic debuts at Tokyo 2021.

Shaw raced to bronze in the C4 3,000m individual pursuit for Canada's first medal of the Tokyo Paralympics, while O'Brien captured silver in the C4 500m time trial. They became the first Canadian women to reach the Paralympic track cycling podium since Julie Cournoyer in 2000, signifying the start of a new era.

O'Brien burst onto the Para-cycling track scene on home soil at the previous world championships in 2020 in Milton, Ont., where she won gold while setting the world record in the women's C4 500m time trial (35.223). The 34-year-old from Calgary will look to defend her title, beginning with the qualifying round on Thursday.

WATCH | O'Brien sets time trial world record at 2020 Para-cycling track