Canada's O'Brien wins silver in women's C4 500m at Para-cycling track worlds

Kate O'Brien got Canada on the board with a silver medal at the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France on Thursday.

Anna Grace Taylor of New Zealand took bronze with a time of 38.907.

The 34-year-old Canadian won silver in the women's C4-5 time trial event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, again only trailing only Cox.

O'Brien won gold in the event at the previous world championships in Milton, Ont., in 2020.

"Coming in as world champion, I obviously wanted to defend the title," O'Brien said. "I had my first crash since 2017 on the track last week and I also had to recover from COVID. Up until yesterday, it was not even certain if I would race, so I am super grateful to be here today and to have the support from everyone"

Sensational start for Pemble

Mel Pemble got off to a blazing start in her first Para cycling track world championships.

The 22-year-old followed up national record-breaking performances last month in the women's C3 500m time trial and individual pursuit with a world-record time in the women's C3 omnium 200-metre sprint on Thursday.

Pemble — who was born in England moved to Canada in 2009 — finished with a time of 12.666 seconds, reaching a top speed of 56.845 km/h in the process.

"It was so unexpected," Pemble said. "It was my main event coming in, so to be able to perform today and have such an amazing debut makes me really proud. I still can't believe that I am a World Record holder."

Pagie Greco of Australia was the only other athlete to break the 13-second barrier with a time of 12.962, while Richael Timothy came in third place with a time of 13.377.

After finishing in third place in the 500m portion of the event, Pemble and Greco are currently tied atop the leaderboard in the omnium WC3 standings with 76 points.

The omnium is a four-part endurance event, which will continue with the third and fourth legs throughout the weekend.

The Victoria, B.C., resident also clocked in with a time of 40.816 in the women's C3 500m time trial to finish fourth behind Aniek Van Den Aarssen of the Netherlands (39.093 seconds), Keiko Sugiura of Japan (39.557 seconds), and Greco's third-place time of 39.662.

Pemble - who also represented Canada in Para alpine skiing at the 2018 Winter Games - broke her own record in the 500m event with a time of 40.379 at the Canadian Track Championships in Milton, Ont., in September.

Also representing Canada this weekend will be Keely Shaw of Midale, Sask., and Alexandre Hayward of Quispamsis, N.B.

The 2022 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships continue on Friday, running through Sunday.

Friday, Oct. 21:

• 3 a.m. ET: 500m time trial qualifying (WC2, WC1), 1km time trial qualifying (MC1, MC2, MB)
• 6:30 a.m. ET: 3km individual pursuit qualifying (MC3, WC4, WC5, WB)
• 10:30 a.m. ET: 500m time trial finals (WC1, WC2), 15km scratch race (MC4, MC5), 3km individual pursuit finals (MC3, WC4, WC5, WB), 1km time trial finals (MC1, MC2, MB), 10km scratch race (WC3)

Saturday, Oct. 22:

• 3 a.m. ET: 3km individual pursuit qualifying (WC2, WC3, MC1, MC2, WC1), 4km individual pursuit qualifying (MB)
• 7:30 a.m. ET: 1km time trial qualifying (MC5, MC4, MC3, WB)
• 11 a.m. ET: 3km individual pursuit finals (WC1, WC2, WC3, MC1, MC2), 1km time trial finals (WB, MC5, MC4, MC3), 10km scratch race (WC5, WC4), 4km individual pursuit final (MB)

Sunday, Oct. 23:

• 3 a.m. ET: Sprint qualifying and 1/4 finals (WB, MB), 750m team sprint qualifying (M/WC1-5)
• 8:30 a.m. ET: 15km scratch race (MC2), sprint finals (WB, MB), 10km scratch race (WC1-2), 750m team sprint final (M/WC1-5)