Cranbrook athlete Tristen Chernove won a silver medal in the C1 Individual Pursuit track cycling event at the Tokyo Paralympic Games overnight Wednesday.
Chernove earned his way into the medal round following qualifiers but his Russian opponent, Mikhail Astashov, caught up to the Canadian cyclist in the second half of the gold medal race to take the win.
“The qualifying ride went fairly well and I was super thrilled to make it into the final,” said Chernove, in a Cycling Canada news release. “The final was not so great; I knew he [Astashov] would go out fast and I probably started too fast and was having some breathing issues which added to my blowing up that much sooner.
“It’s a pretty emotional Games for me because I am retiring from para-cycling after these Games and devoting much more of my time to my family so it’s going to be a Games of highs and lows but I’m really excited to move on to the next phase.”
The silver medal adds to his collection from the 2016 Rio Games, where he had the same result in the same event, while also capturing a bronze and a gold in other cycling disciplines.
Chernove will be competing in additional cycling events as the Tokyo Games progress.
Over the past decade, Chernove has exploded onto the paracycling scene, in both track and road racing competition.
He won gold in his first UCI World Championships five years ago in a pair of track events and has since consistently found himself at — or near — the top of the podium in track and road world championship events since then.
trevor.crawley@cranbrooktownsman.com
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