Paralympics 2024
Paralympics 2024: Indian para-cyclists finish last in individual time trials
Arshad Shaik and Jyoti Gaderia ended their campaign in the Paris Paralympics after finishing last in their respective final.
Indian para-cyclists - Arshad Shaik and Jyoti Gaderia - failed to impress on their debut at the Paralympics in Paris on Wednesday.
Para-cyclist Arshad Shaik finished last, making an 11th-place finish, with a timing of 25:20.11s in the Men's C2 Individual Time Trial Finals at the Paralympics in Paris.
C2 classification includes athletes with moderate muscle stiffness, coordination issues, and involuntary movements on one side or both. It also covers those with a leg amputated above the knee.
Arshad trailed the gold medallist, Alexandra Laute of France, by 5:55.66s, with Laute completing the race in 19:24.45s.
At the 5.8 km intermediate mark, Arshad recorded a time of 8:48.17s, falling behind Vromant Ewoud of Belgium, who clocked the best time of 6:55.85 at that stage.
Despite this strong intermediate performance, Ewoud was overtaken by Laute, eventually securing the silver medal.
Meanwhile, the defending champion Darren Hicks of Australia took home the bronze medal.
Gaderiya finishes 16th
Jyoti Gaderiya, like Arshad, finished 16th with a factored timing of 30:00.16 in the women's C1-3 Individual Time Trials.
C1-3 classification includes cyclists with varying degrees of coordination issues or limb absence.
Riders across these classes race using a time factoring system where the clock runs slower for C1’s, slightly faster for C2’s and for C3’s.
Gaderiya was 8:29.71s behind the gold medallist, Maike Hausberger of Germany, who completed the time trial in 21:30.45s.
After all the para-cyclists completed the intermediate checkpoint, Gaderiya found herself in last place within her group, trailing by 2:11.28s behind Maike who crossed the intermediate point at 7:35.63s leading all the way.
Frances Brown of Great Britain and Anna Beck of Sweden secured the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Earlier, both Arshad and Jyoti competed individually in men’s and women’s track events, including time trials and pursuits, but failed to advance to finals.