(Sportcom) – By her own words, Marie-Claude Molnar was not at the top of her form on Friday, in Belgium, where she competed in her first international event of the season in para-cycling on the road. The Quebecer still managed to start her campaign on the podium, finishing third in the time trial in the C4 category.
“It was a pretty difficult race, that’s for sure!”, She dropped from the start in an interview with Sportcom.
“We had really good conditions for the race, but in terms of form, I can’t say that I was 100%. There are days when we have a little less legs and today [vendredi]it was a day like that.”
Nevertheless, the Longueuilloise was proud at the end of this contested event over 20 kilometers in Ostend. She persevered to complete the top 3, just over two minutes behind American Samantha Bosco (29 min 31.08 s) and in first place.
Saskatchewan’s Keely Shaw (+1 min 18.777 s) was decorated with silver at the end of this race, to the delight of her teammate in the maple leaf.
“With two Canadians on the podium, we can say that it’s mission accomplished for the first event of the season,” she said. It wasn’t necessarily perfect from a personal point of view, but it was still a good performance overall.
find the rhythm
In his last international outing, at the World Championships in Cascais (Portugal) in June 2021, Molnar had won the two world titles in the C4. However, she had missed her Paralympic appointment due to technical details and canceled competitions during the qualification process for the Tokyo Games.
Almost a year later, the 39-year-old athlete wants to “start over with a blank page” and take advantage of his next events to find his rhythm, starting with the road race scheduled for Sunday, still near Ostend.
“I was coming to Belgium to deliver good performances and simply do the best I can. This is an opportunity to start on a good footing. In terms of power, everything is there, so it bodes well for Sunday. It will be an intense race, but I am hopeful that Keely and I will be able to stand out again,” she concluded.
Also in action at this World Cup, Louis-Albert Corriveau-Jolin and Michael Shetler will be racing in line in the T2 class on Saturday. The two Quebecers were respectively ranked 9th and 10th in the time trial in their category on Thursday.