The cycling of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo left America with two medals in the beautiful velodrome of the Japanese capital, through the American Shawn Morelli (silver) and the Canadian Keely Shaw (bronze), both in the individual pursuit specialty C4 3000 meters.
Cyclist Morelli won the first United States team medal in Japan and it was his third Paralympic medal, as she won two golds at the 2016 Rio Janeiro Games.
Australian Emily Petricola dominated the event and her qualifying time of 3: 38.061 minutes set a world record, and she ended up beating Morelli during the final.
Morelli previously set the Paralympic record of 3: 57.741 at the Brazilian event five years ago, where he won two gold medals: one in the road time trial and another in this same track pursuit event.
The American rider praised Petricola for her “amazing ride” and told Teamusa.org: “Now I know what I have to do to get back with her.” She added: “I am delighted to be able to emerge from the pandemic in such good shape and win a medal.”
Morelli, 45, a 16-time world medalist, wrote on Twitter after her career: “Today was a very close day full of adversity. I am grateful to be able to give up and come home with a Silver. Thank you to all my friends , family, coaches and sponsors “.
For her part, Canadian cyclist Keely Shaw was happy with her bronze, Canada’s first podium at these Paralympic Games in Tokyo on Wednesday.