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Albor, Whitsell and Compton Claim World Championship Gold in Switzerland
Buchan, Gadberry and Jones all medal over the weekend
By Marvin Olberding
// U.S. Paralympics
// September 18, 2006
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Katie Compton (center left) and Karissa Whitsell (center right) pose with teammates, coaches and staff after winning the gold medal in the Time Trial.
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AIGLE, Switzerland - Alejandro Albor (Elk Grove, Calif.) proved once again that he's one of the world's best handcyclists, and the tandem of Karissa Whitsell (Springfield, Ore.) and Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo.) took the final step up the podium as they all won gold medals during a great weekend of action on the road at the 2006 IPC Cycling World Championships.
Albor broke away from the pack in the Men's HCC Road Race on Sunday, finishing the 46.4km event in one hour, 12 minutes and 25 seconds (1:12:25), 1:24 ahead of the second and third place finishers.
For Whitsell and Compton, their gold medal is their first of this year's World Championships and third overall after winning silver in both of the track races last week. They won the 16.8km Time Trial in 23:55, more than 27 seconds faster than the silver medalists, Italy's Cinzia Couluzzi and Giovanna Troldi.
The U.S. came away with two medals in the Women's LC3-4/CP3 Time Trial as Barb Buchan (CP3, Bend, Ore.) and Allison Jones (LC3, Colorado Springs, Colo.) finished 2-3 behind Germany's Natalie Simanowski. Buchan continues to have a strong World Championships, adding the silver to her world record last Wednesday set in the time trial on the track.
Scott Gadberry (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won a bronze medal in the Men's LC3 Road Race, which may be the most closely contested event of these Championships. The top 13 athletes finished the 69.6km race within two seconds of each other, with France's Laurent Thirionnet taking the gold in 1:58:58.
Ron Williams (LC2, Birmingham, Ala.) had the next highest finish among U.S. athletes, finishing fourth in the Time Trial. The Time Trial events also saw top-10 finishes from Monica Bascio (HCC, Evergreen, Colo., fifth), Stu Flacks (CP2, Davie, Fla., fifth), Mike Farrell (CP4, Colorado Springs, Colo., seventh) and Oscar Sanchez (HCC, San Diego, Calif., seventh).
For full results from the 2006 IPC Cycling World Championships, visit http://www.2006ipc-cycling.com/.
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