Four Medals for Irish Riders at UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships

The UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships came to a close yesterday in Huntsville, Alabama, and saw Irish riders again come away from a major championship with medals around their necks.

Katie-George Dunlevy and pilot Linda Kelly successfully defended their TT World Championship again on Saturday. This marked the pairs fourth straight title, having previously won in Scotland in 2023, Switzerland in 2024 and Belgium in 2025.

Dunlevy and Kelly were not the only Irish riders on the podium for the Women’s B TT however, as Sinead Greenan and Alice Sharpe took silver on their World Championship debut together.

Dunlevy and Kelly completed the 29.2 km course in 36:55.48. Greenan and Sharpe followed in 37:28.08, finishing 32.60 seconds behind their teammates and 20.71 seconds ahead of Great Britain's bronze medallists Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl.

Dunlevy said: “It's absolutely unbelievable, very surreal and a huge relief. I felt pressure going into the race, but to deliver the ride and come away with a fourth time trial title is the stuff of dreams. When you stand on the podium, all the work and sacrifices feel worthwhile. To have Sinead and Alice there as well makes it even more special.”

Kelly said: “The conditions were brutal, like a furnace. We settled into the first four kilometres and then started to build while managing the heat over two laps. Jamie was giving us the gaps to the British bike and that gave us confidence to push harder. With two kilometres to go, we could see them ahead and gave everything to the finish. Hearing it was an Irish one two was amazing.”

Greenan said: “It's pretty unbelievable. It feels like a dream at the moment and it's still hard to believe, but the silver feels even sweeter after such tough conditions. The heat was the hardest part. On the second lap, I just focused on reaching each corner and telling myself there was one less to go.”

Sharpe added: “It's amazing and I'm so proud of Sinead. We only came together for our first World Cup in Belgium, so to already be standing on a World Championship podium is pretty special. It's a testament to all the work she has put in. To achieve this in her first year of racing is incredible, and I'm excited to see where we can go together.”

The result gave Ireland its first two medals of the 2026 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships and placed two Irish tandems on the same World Championship podium.

Greenan and Sharpe did not stop there and took a second silver on their Worlds debut, as they finished off the competition on Monday with a second place finish in the Women’s B road race. The pair narrowly missed out on top spot as the 82.8km race came down to a sprint against GB pair Unwin and Holl.

Greenan said afterwards: “It is always hard not to be a little disappointed when you get so close to winning, but that is because we are so ambitious. We will work on that sprint and hopefully be on the right side of it next time. I am so proud of Alice and how she races. I could not ask for a better teammate. We only met three days before our first race, but I think we both realised very quickly that we were special on the bike together.”

Reigning World Champion pairing entering the week Dunlevy and Kelly only finished seven seconds back on the silver medal pairing, but ultimately took seventh in an incredibly strong field.

The medals continued for World Championships debutants as Heather Jameson took home her first World Championship silver medal in the Women’s C2 road race on Monday afternoon. This first Worlds medal is in addition to the European TT and Road Race double bronze she took in June, marking an incredible breakout year.

Jameson said: “I'm absolutely over the moon. I really, really and truly am. I'm so happy with the performance. I came here feeling really good. We put in a lot of work, especially since the European Championships in June, and I gave it everything I had out there. The race was fantastic and really suited me. It was a little bit on and off, but I knew I had enough left at the end, so when it came to the line, I gave it everything I had.”

Jameson also took fifth in the TT in Alabama on Saturday in really tough conditions, with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius and humidity around 70%.

Recent European champion Richael Timothy was the only other Irish rider on a solo bike at this year’s Worlds. Timothy took sixth in the Women’s C3 road race, with the Paralympian taking ninth in the TT on Saturday.

Two men’s tandem made the trip to Hunstville. Paris Paralympic pairing Damien Vereker and Mitchell McLaughlin medalled at a World Cup round earlier this year and looked to replicate that performance in Alabama. The pair battled the heat to take eighth in the Men’s B TT and ninth in their road race, just 45 seconds back from the Spanish world champions Imanol Arriortua Zorrilla and Mikel Aristi Gardoki.

Ciaran O’Toole and Con Scully made their Para-cycling World Championship debuts in Alabama. The pair placed 16th the Men's B race, covering seven laps and 96.6 km, with the winners averaging 49.22 km/h, with the race being reduced by one lap under the UCI Warm Weather Protocol. O’Toole and Scully took eleventh in the TT on Saturday.

O’Toole said afterwards: “I think we put in the best performance we could, especially in the heat. It definitely started to get to me on the second lap, but it was a good performance and I'm happy with it.”

Two Irish handbikes were in action in Alabama, a Worlds debut for both Allister MacSorley and Steve McGowan.

Steven McGowan made an impressive World Championship debut in Huntsville on Friday, finishing seventh in the Men's H3 individual time trial as Ireland's campaign got under way at the 2026 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships.

McGowan completed the 29.2 km course in 43:16.52. He reached the halfway point in eighth place with a time of 21:06.01 before gaining a position on the second lap to finish seventh in a field of 20 riders.

McGowan said: “I'm absolutely delighted. I said from the start that if I could get into the top 12 or top 10 I'd be happy, so to finish seventh, my best result of the year so far, is brilliant. The heat made a huge difference. By the second lap my body was overheating, so they were very difficult racing conditions.”

Belgium's Marvin Odent claimed the world title in 40:54.12, with Micha Wäfler of Switzerland second and Germany's Daniel Ulmann third. This was McGowan's first World Championships, following his World Cup and European Championship debuts earlier this season. He was also crowned Irish national time trial champion in June.

Allister MacSorley also recorded a top ten finish for Ireland, placing ninth in the Men's H4 individual time trial. His time of 42:51.31 over the same 29.2 km course moved him from 10th place at halfway into ninth on the final standings.

MacSorley said: “I'm happy with that result. The aim was to get into the top 10, so to finish ninth is pretty cool. The conditions were brutal, with the heat and humidity and two laps of a long, rolling course. I tried to pace myself as much as possible on the first lap, but the second lap was just pain. In the final three kilometres, I could taste blood at the back of my throat.”

The pair followed up these performances with more top-10 finishes in the road races, with MacSorley taking seventh and McGowan taking fourth, just four seconds behind the MH3 winner Johan Quaile of France.