Paralympics: Cyclist from Freeport and teammate place 6th in time trial

The United States para-cycling tandem team of Hannah Chadwick and her pilot Skyler Samuelson Espinoza, a Freeport native,[1] finished sixth in Friday’s Women’s B 1,000-meter time trial at the Paris Paralympic Games. Competing on the steeply banked track at the National Velodrome, Chadwick and Espinoza had qualified for Friday night’s final by claiming the sixth and final qualifying spot in the morning heat. The tandem event is for visually impaired cyclists who combine with an able-bodied cyclist, called the pilot, in the front seat of the bike.

Ten teams competed from seven countries. In the heats, Chadwick and Espinoza had a factored time of 1 minute, 9.581 seconds, recording an average speed of 51.738 kilometers an hour. The fastest team in the heat – and the eventual gold medal duo – was Elizabeth Jordan and her pilot Kannielle Khan of Great Britain in 1:06.870 (53.836 kilometers per hour).

In the finals, the order of the six qualifiers did not change. Jordan and Khan recorded a time of 1:06.976 (53.751 kph). Chadwick and Espinoza finished in 1:10.187 (51.292 kph), about 2.3 seconds off the podium.

Chadwick and Espinoza, 30, who now lives in Menlo Park, California, are scheduled to be back on the track Sunday in the Women’s B 3000m individual pursuit. Clara Brown [2], who grew up in Falmouth and now lives in Cumberland, will begin her Paralympic competition Wednesday in the Women’s C1-3 Individual time trial on the roads in Clichy-sous-bois. Brown is also scheduled to compete in the WC1-3 road race on Sept.

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