Following on from Scottish success at the Olympic games in July, the Paralympic Games will take over Tokyo and Japan for the next 13 days, with no fewer than five Scottish riders taking on a busy schedule of racing
Kick off with the opening ceremony on Tuesday 24th August, it can be easy to lose track of events with such a diverse catalogue of sports and disciplines during the Games, so we’ve pulled together a one-stop guide to keep all of you Scottish Cycling fans in the loop.
Track
The cycling proceedings start on day one of competition, with the track events getting proceedings underway at the now familiar Izu Velodrome just outside of Tokyo; the medals will be contested over four days of action from Wednesday 25th August.
Thursday 26th August sees the Women’s B Kilo TT take centre stage, where Glaswegian stoker Aileen McGlynn will be piloted by Helen Scott – the former will hope to build on her two bronze medals won on the Gold Coast in 2018. The other GB pairing will have Scot Jenny Holl piloting Sophie Unwin and both duos will also be in action on Saturday 28th in the Women’s 3km Individual Pursuit.
Thursday also sees Strathpeffer’s Fin Graham competing in the Men's C3 3000m Individual Pursuit.
Saturday’s events will see four-time Commonwealth Gold medallist Neil Fachie MBE take to the boards with his pilot Matt Rotherham, whilst Killearn’s Lewis Stewart will contest the same events as pilot for James Ball. Both GB teams will have high hopes in the Men’s B 1000m Time Trial and should be ready and raring to go, having competed in the Individual Pursuit on the Wednesday, which will act as a perfect warm up, as the rules stipulate that all para -cyclists must contest two events.
The two Men’s B squads couldn’t be more different, with Fachie competing at his fourth Paralympic Games – competing in Beijing in athletics before changing focus to two wheels for London 2012, with then pilot Craig Maclean, as they won gold and silver in the Kilo and Sprint respectively.
Meanwhile fellow Scot Lewis Stewart is only entering his second year as a pilot, and he told Scottish Cycling he was “really thankful for the opportunity, as I wouldn’t have gone to Tokyo otherwise”. His pathway into becoming a para-cycling pilot is quite unique, which you can read here.
Road
The riders are provided a short respite before the road events take place over four days from Tuesday 31st August. As with the Olympics, the iconic Fuji International Speedway will play host to the action – a venue which has provided such drama at the climax to the 1976 Formula One World Championship, and more recently Anna Keisenhoffer’s fantastic solo breakaway victory last month.
Coming off the back of the Individual Pursuit, former Scottish Cycling Performance Programme rider Fin Graham will be competing in both Tuesday’s C1-3 Men’s Time Trial and the C1-3 Men’s Road Race two days later.
Rounding out the action, Blair Drummond’s Holl and her partner Sophie Unwin will, in addition to their track events, be competing in the Women’s B Time Trial and the final cycling event of the Games, the Women’s Road Race on Friday 3rd September.
As ever, Scottish Cycling will keep you up to date with all of the action via our social media channels and website.
Full schedule of the Scots competing:
