★ The Sports Examiner is delighted to present this important contribution from our patron, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, with a focus on American Paralympic stars. Opinions expressed are those of the USOPC. ★
Barry Wilcox captured four gold medals in two World Cup stops, and four-time Paralympic triathlon medalist Grace Norman medaled twice.
By Paul D. Bowker
Red Line Editorial on behalf of the USOPC
The UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup season came and went this spring, with U.S. cyclists piling up the second most medals of any country at the two European stops.
A U.S. team of 15 athletes raced in Ostend, Belgium, on May 1-4. Many of them were part of the 12-person team that then turned around for another competition in Maniago, Italy, on May 15-18.
Competing in road races and time trials across various classifications, U.S. cyclists combined to win 29 medals and finished second to only France in the World Cup team standings. France totaled 52 medals, including 25 gold medals.
Among the U.S. medals were 10 golds. The Netherlands won 18 gold medals but finished behind the U.S. in the medals table with 27 overall medals.
Several U.S. cyclists finished with standout individual performances, including Barry Wilcox. A former junior national champion as an able-bodied cyclist during his teenage years, Wilcox has enjoyed a rebirth as a Para-cyclist now in his late 40s and swept his four handcycling races this spring to claim the world cup overall title in the MH1 class.
Meanwhile, two-time Paralympian Clara Brown captured a pair of gold medals in WC3 in Ostend.
Samantha Bosco, a gold medalist at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, returned from a surgical procedure to reach the podium twice in WC4, winning a gold and silver medal.
Grace Norman, a two-time Paralympic champion in triathlon, including last summer in Paris, continued her foray into Para-cycling with two medals, including a gold in the time trial WC4, over her first two world cups.
“Being able to race back-to-back World Cups was a great way to gain experience, assess, and improve my performance!” Norman said on her Instagram account. “Absolutely thrilled with it!”
The World Cup schedule consisted of just two stops spread over three weeks this season. Road racers are now gearing up for the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, which will be held in late August in Ronse, Belgium.
Although the U.S. roster hasn’t yet been announced for the world championships, the World Cup successes had many pointing already to Belgium in August.
“The staff and fellow team USA athletes were all part of a successful trip not only for myself but others,” Wilcox posted on Instagram. “Back home to Arizona before returning to Belgium the end of August for the world championships where my category will be even more difficult! Challenge accepted.“
Cody Wills, a 2024 Paralympian in the MH2 class, won the time trial MH2 in Maniago.
“I finished the 2025 World Cup season ranked 3rd in UCI points but the race season isn’t over yet … my results here unofficially secured my spot on the Team USA roster for @ronse2025 World Championships!” he wrote on Instagram.
Medaling three times were eight-time Paralympian Allison Jones, three-time Paralympian Jamie Whitmore, two-time Paralympian Freddie De Los Santos and 2020 Paralympian Ryan Pinney.
“It was loads of fun and had a little bit of everything,” said Whitmore, who won the time trial WC3 in Italy. “It had fast turns, inclines and fast descents. It truly was my type of course. I love ones that challenge us and utilize bike-handling skills. To top things off, I won.”
The other U.S. gold medalist was Elouan Gardon. Coming off a bronze medal in his Paralympic debut last year as an 18-year-old, Gardon won the time trial MC5 in Belgium.
The U.S. nearly topped 30 medals over the two World Cup stops as a number of Americans posted fourth-place finishes, missing podiums by one finishing spot. Among them was five-time Paralympic medalist Jennifer Schuble, who developed a cramp at a key time in her WC5 road race in Italy and finished fourth just a month after leg surgery.
“If I wouldn’t have cramped up, I would definitely podiumed,” Schuble said. “With everything going on right now, that was a pretty good showing.”
Some of the cyclists headed for the USA Cycling National Championships in Charleston, West Virginia, immediately after returning from the second world cup stop in Italy.
Competition, for some, shifts to track cycling in June. The U.S. Paralympics Track Cycling Open is set for June 14 and 15 in Carson, California, followed by a national camp in Carson. The World Championships in track will be held October 16-19 in Rio de Janeiro.
Schuble, a three-time Paralympian, is among those trying to make the World Championship team in both road and track.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USParaCycling.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
For more, please visit the USOPC Paralympic Educational Hub.
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