Carol Cooke has successfully regained her crown as dual World Champion at the 2017 UCI Para-cycling World Championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa over the weekend.
In windy conditions, VIS scholarship holder Carol Cooke stormed home to her fourth straight time trial victory, taking the win a whopping seven seconds ahead from close competitor American Jill Walsh.
Post-race, Cooke said she was over the moon with the win.
“We were even at the halfway mark, and at the last turn to then head the final three kilometres to the finish we were still dead even, so I knew I just had to put my head down and give it everything I had” she said.
Three days later, Cooke backed up her stunning time trial victory, with a win in the road race, securing her dual World Champion status.
Finishing the 24.3km road race in just 51 minutes and 7 seconds, Cooke managed to edge herself ahead of key rivals Jana Majunke and Jill Walsh to take home the rainbow stripes once more.
“The women have gotten a lot stronger in the past two years, and today’s racing was really hard,” Cooke said.
“But I really wanted to wear the rainbow jersey again and I am very happy with my win today!”
Fellow VIS scholarship holders, Stuart Tripp and Hannah Macdougall also had a successful start to their World Championship campaigns, despite being unable to find a podium finish. Stuart Tripp finished 4th in the H5 men’s time trial, while Hannah Macdougall took 7th in the women’s C4 time trial.
Image: Cycling Australia
