August 06, 2018 (Maniago, Italy) – Tristen Chernove of Cranbrook, BC, successfully defended his men’s C2 road race world title on Sunday, the final day of competition at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Maniago, Italy. Chernove’s medal was Canada’s fourth gold medal and seventh overall for the Championships, with two silvers and one bronze adding to the total. Canada finished the world championships ranked fifth overall by world titles.

Chernove, who had won a silver medal in the time trial two days earlier, beat 12 other riders in a field sprint at the end of the 68 kilometre race. Alejandro Perea Arango of Colombia won the silver medal and Darren Hicks of Australia the bronze.

“I had a ton of confidence coming in here,” said Chernove. “Although I spent a lot of time on the front, I felt like I was in control. I just wanted to stay safe, pick my line and stay out of hazard’s way. I was surging and keeping control of the pace and making the others hurt. Then it got tactical when I needed to recover for my sprint.”

“I knew I’d be sprinting from a slower speed, so I wanted to be first wheel on the final corner on the cobbles. I pretty much rode to my plan and it came out great. I came to the Worlds really wanting to win the road race. I was willing to do anything to win and was super happy the way it turned out.”

In other Canadian results, Marie-Claude Molnar of St Hubert, Quebec, finished seventh and Keely Shaw of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, was eighth in the women’s C4 category, while Nicole Clermont of St Denis de Brompton, Quebec, was tenth in women’s C5. In men’s C1, Ross Wilson of Edmonton was 14th and Michael Sametz of Calgary was 14th in the men’s C3. Canada’s lone entry in the men’s Tandem, Daniel Chalifour (Mont-Laurier, QC) and his pilot Jean Michel Lachance (Quebec City, QC) finished seventh.

“The international level in Para-cycling is constantly rising,” said Sebastien Travers, Head Para Coach at Cycling Canada. “I’m glad to see we can keep up. Our athletes have achieved key performances which have led to high results both in terms of medals and qualification points. It’s above expectations for the level we are currently at. We come out of this world championships very satisfied with where we are two years from the [Tokyo 2020] Games. Besides the medals, we’re having top-5 and top-8 performances from our newcomers, which shows that our NextGen coaches are doing a great job.”