Day 4 (track): Stunning silver for Murray, brilliant bronze for Briggs in Cycling World Championships

Paralympian Nicole Murray seized stunning silver in the Individual Pursuit, while Devon Briggs pushed through the bunch to bag bronze in the Scratch Race. This brings the tally to 4 medals across the Kiwi Para cyclists.

Bronze for Briggs

Cambridge 19-year-old Briggs is thrilled with his race and the progression its shows:

“I’m stoked. That was one of the best Scratch Races I’ve ever ridden. I was determined to set myself up really well for the final sprint. I managed to get on Fin (Graham)’s wheel and Jaco (van Gass)’s wheel and just ended up going around few people to get there and managed to get third. And I get to take home another one of these highland cow mascots!”

Silver for Murray

Murray explains that this performance, while slightly slower than her qualifier, was a technical feat that she’s proud of:

“I executed everything within my power as well as I could today. It’s the most consistent ride that I’ve done in probably a couple of years, so I’ve got to be happy with that. Rode it hard until the end!”

The Cambridge 30-year-old has racked up a stack of medals in both track and road Para cycling over the past couple of years. She went into this Championships as the top-ranked C5 Para cyclist in the world.

18-year-old Heidi Gaugain from France took the Individual Pursuit gold. When asked about the new young talent shaking up the C5 class after a decade of dominance from the UK’s Dame Sarah Storey, Murray welcomes it:

“It’s good for the event. It keeps things interesting. Good to keep an eye out for the scratch race as well. Hopefully things will play out a little bit differently than usual. Looking forward to that!”

Murray also contested the 200m Time Trial earlier in the day, placing 4^th.

Looking ahead to Day 5

Day 5 will be a full one for the Para cyclists. Paralympians Anna Taylor and Sarah Ellington will start the day with qualifiers for the 500m Time Trial in their respective classes. We hope to see them both in the Time Trial finals later in the day. Devon Briggs has both the 200m Time Trial early in the day, and the 3km Individual Pursuit later in the day. Briggs has qualified for the bronze final for the latter. Nick Blincoe and Ben Westenberg will battle the field in the 15km Scratch Race.

See the schedule of when the New Zealanders compete. Livestreaming is available for some events, and links to the livestreams are provided on the schedule.

About the World Championships

The UCI Cycling World Championships (opens a new tab) have been dubbed the ‘Super Worlds’. They bring together 13 different World Championships in various cycling disciplines into one massive event in Glasgow, Scotland. The Para cyclists will compete in track events until next Tuesday 8^th August. Following that they then contest road events from Wednesday 9^th August through to Sunday 13^th August.

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What do the classifications mean in Para cycling?

• Classification groups Para cyclists with an eligible impairment into sports classes, according to how much their impairment affects their ability to carry out the fundamental activities in their sport.
• Para athletes who are able to use a standard bicycle (with approved adaptations) compete in the five sport classes C1-5.
• Sport class C1 is allocated to athletes with the most severe activity limitation. The sport class C5 is allocated to athletes with minimum impairments.
• The C1-5 sport classes include athletes with limb deficiency, impaired muscle power or range of motion and impairments affecting co-ordination, such as uncoordinated movements and involuntary movements.