Cycling at the Tokyo Paralympic Games - track time trial

Cycling at the Tokyo Paralympic Games - track time trial

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Published
24 June 2016
Written by
Tom O'Brien
Images by
SW Pix

The time trial is cycling speed at its purest.

About

Riders take to the track and attempt to post the fastest time possible from a standing start, with solo women racing over 500m and men and tandem pairs riding for 1km.

Format

There are no heats in the time trial - it is all or nothing in the pursuit for gold.

Classification

The time trial is an event for ‘C’ and ‘B’ athletes. ‘C’ riders are those with locomotion impairments who can ride a bicycle. Riders within the ‘C’ group will be placed into one of five categories, with C1 indicating the greatest degree of impairment and C5 the least.

Sophie Thornhill and Helen Scott compete for Great Britain in the 1km time trial at the Paralympic Games

‘B’ riders are athletes who have visual impairments and ride tandem bicycles with a pilot.

The time trial is a factored event - meaning that cyclists from different ‘C’ categories compete against each other and results take into account the severity of the impairments of each competitor. As a result, posted times can be factored into a different calculation and the gold medal goes to the rider with the fastest time after all times have been factored.

Venue

Organisers of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo scrapped plans to build a purpose-built, 5,000 seat velodrome for the Games in Tokyo Bay as part of cost-cutting measures. Track cycling will now be held at the Izu Velodrome, 120km to the south-west of Tokyo.

The Izu Velodrome has a 250m Siberian Spruce wooden track with 42 degree banking and opened in 2011 as the first indoor cycling track in the country. The venue currently has a 4,300 seat capacity.

Megan Giglia competes for Great Britain in the 500m time trial at the Rio Paralympics

When

Track cycling at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo is currently scheduled to take place from Thursday 27 August until Sunday 30 August.

With Tokyo eight hours ahead of British Summer Time, it is believed that racing will take place at around 2am-4am (all days, morning sessions) and 8.30am-11am (Thursday, Friday and Saturday, evening sessions) for UK audiences.

Facts

  • The time trial has been part of the Paralympic programme since the Atlanta Games in 1996 - where track cycling made its Paralympic debut.
  • Great Britain’s first ever Paralympic track cycling medal came in the time trial in the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, as tandem pair Robert Allen and Andrew Slater won silver in Australia.
  • The British cycling Paralympic gold rush began in Athens four years later, with Darren Kenny taking gold in the CP 3-4 time trial alongside Aileen McGlynn and Ellen Hunter in the women’s tandem time trial.
  • They retained their titles in Beijing in 2008, with fellow Brits Mark Bristow (LC1), Jody Cundy (LC2), Simon Richardson and the tandem duo of Anthony Kappes and Barney Storey also winning time trial gold in China.
  • The London Paralympics further cemented Great Britain’s reputation as the leading force in para-cycling time trials as five more medals were secured.
  • Dame Sarah Storey took C4-5 gold, with Aileen McGlynn, then piloted by Helen Scott, taking B silver. Neil Fachie, piloted by Barney Storey, took B gold, with silver medals for Mark Colbourne (C1-3) and Jon-Allan Butterworth (C4-5).

Kadeena Cox competes for Great Britain in the 500m time trial at the Rio Paralympics

  • In Brazil in 2016, Great Britain won three more time trial gold medals. Jody Cundy (C4-5) found redemption after missing out on a medal in London by taking gold while Kadeena Cox (C4-5) became Paralympic champion for the first time in her career.
  • The tandem duo of Sophie Thornhill (B) and her pilot Helen Scott also won gold in Rio while Neil Fachie (B) and pilot Pete Mitchell took time trial silver.
  • The other Paralympic champions in Brazil were Netherlands' Tristan Bangma (B) and pilot Teun Mulder, Zhangyu Li (C1-3) of China and Alyda Norbruis (C1-3), also of Netherlands.

Records

World records

Men’s C1 1km time trial – 1:11.937, Zhangyu Li (China), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Paralympic Games.
Men’s C2 1km time trial – 1:13.235, Xie Hao (China), 12 April 2014, Aguascalientes, Mexico, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships.
Men’s C3 1km time trial – 1:06.131, Alexey Obydennov (Russia), 12 April 2014, Aguascalientes, Mexico, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships.
Men’s C4 1km time trial – 1:01.466, Jody Cundy (Great Britain), 12 April 2014, Aguascalientes, Mexico, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships.
Men’s C5 1km time trial – 1:01.683, Alfonso Cabello (Spain), 12 April 2014, Aguascalientes, Mexico, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships.
Men’s B 1km time trial – 59.460, Neil Fachie and Pete Mitchell (Great Britain), 11 April 2014, Aguascalientes, Mexico, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships.
Women’s C1 500m time trial – 44.439, Jiele Le (China), 18 March 2016, Montichiari, Italy, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships.
Women’s C2 500m time trial – 39.631, Alyda Norbruis (Netherlands), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Paralympics Games.
Women’s C3 500m time trial – 41.252, Megan Giglia (Great Britain), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Paralympics Games.
Women’s C4 500m time trial – 35.716, Kadeena Cox (Great Britain), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Paralympics Games.
Women’s C5 500m time trial – 36.004, Zhou Jufang (China), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Paralympics Games.
Women’s B 1km time trial – 1:05.912, Sophie Thornhill and Rachel James (Great Britain), 11 April 2014, Aguascalientes, Mexico, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships.

Neil Fachie and Pete Mitchell compete for Great Britain in the 500m time trial at the Rio Paralympics
Paralympic records

Men’s C1 1km time trial – 1:11.937, Zhangyu Li (China), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Men’s C2 1km time trial – 1:14.716, Tristen Chernove (Canada), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Men’s C3 1km time trial – 1:08.668, Darren Kenny (Great Britain), 9 September 2008, Beijing, China.
Men’s C4 1km time trial – 1:04.492, Jody Cundy (Great Britain), 9 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Men’s C5 1km time trial – 1:04.494, Alfonso Cabello (Spain), 9 September 2016, London, United Kingdom.
Men’s B 1km time trial – 59.8221, Tristan Bangma and Teun Mulder (Netherlands), 11 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Women’s C1 500m time trial – 45.449, Jayme Paris (Australia), 1 September 2012, London, United Kingdom.
Women’s C2 500m time trial – 39.631, Alyda Norbruis (Netherlands), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Women’s C3 500m time trial – 41.252, Megan Giglia (Great Britain), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Women’s C4 500m time trial – 35.716, Kadeena Cox (Great Britain), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Women’s C5 500m time trial – 36.004, Zhou Jufang (China), 10 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Women’s B 1km time trial – 1:06.283, Sophie Thornhill and Helen Scott (Great Britain), 9 September 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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