The men's time trial class B track cycling event at the 2024 Summer Paralympics took place on 1 September 2024 in the Vélodrome National, Paris. This class is for the cyclist who is blind or has visual impairments, they will then ride with tandem bicycles together with a sighted cyclist (also known as the pilot). There will be 11 pairs from 9 different nations competing.
Competition The 11 pairs were placed into their own heats individually (1 heat including a single 1 pair) where they performed a qualifying time trial. The six fastest pairs qualified for the gold final.
The B classification is described as follows:
The gold and silver medalists from Tokyo returned. Neil Fachie, piloted by Matt Rotherham seeking a record third Paralympic title in the event in four appearances (having won silver in 2016), while James Ball, piloted by Steffan Lloyd sought to win his first. World bronze medalist, Thomas Ulbricht, piloted by German Olympic legend Robert Förstemann sought to become the first German tandem to win the event.
In a close event, the three pre-race favourites qualified for the final, led by the German Ulbricht. In the final, however, the two British teams asserted themselves, with James Ball, piloted by Steffan Lloyd, taking their first Paralympic Games victory in the event over veteran Neil Fachie, piloted by Matt Rotherham, winning his second silver to go with his two previous golds in the event. Ulbricht and Förstemann could not match the British teams, but did not leave empty-handed, as they hung on to win a deserved bronze medal.
In doing so, Förstemann became one of the few cyclists to win both an Olympic Games medal and a Paralympic Games medal, 12 years after winning bronze in the team sprint at London 2012.
Schedule All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
Date Time Round1 September 11:00 Qualifying 13:51 Final
Records At the commencement of the event the following world and Paralympic Games records were in place:Records : Men's B time trial from Paris2024.org EventRecordNameNationalityMarkLocationDateMen's B 1000m Time TrialNeil FachiePilot: Matthew Rotherham58.038Tokyo28 August 2021
Results Qualifying Rank Heat Cyclists Nation Result Notes 1 6 Thomas UlbrichtPilot: Robert Förstemann Q 2 5 James BallPilot: Steffan Lloyd Q 3 5 Kane PerrisPilot: Luke Zaccaria 1:00.374 Q 4 6 Neil FachiePilot: Matt Rotherham 1:00.543 Q 5 4 Martin GordonPilot: Eoin Mullen 1:01.158 Q 6 3 Kazuhei KimuraPilot: Kiaki Miura 1:02.022 Q 7 4 Lorenzo BernardPilot: Davide Plebani 1:03.744 8 2 Branden WaltonPilot: Spencer Seggebruch 1:04.080 9 3 Maximiliano GómezPilot: Sebastián Tolosa 1:05.022 10 2 Damien VerekerPilot: Mitchell McLaughlin 1:06.740 11 1 Frederick AssorPilot: Rudolf Mensah 1:24.722
Final Rank Cyclists Nation Result Notes James BallPilot: Steffan Lloyd Neil FachiePilot: Matt Rotherham Thomas UlbrichtPilot: Robert Förstemann 4 Kane PerrisPilot: Luke Zaccaria 1:00.940 5 Martin GordonPilot: Eoin Mullen 1:01.158 6 Kazuhei KimuraPilot: Kiaki Miura 1:02.567
References