Schmidt Earns Top-10 in Time Trial World Championship

September 20, 2022

The last day of individual time trials for Team USA highlights Patrick, Sarkisov, Gustin, and Shmidt as they tried to beat the clock in Wollongong.

WOLLONGONG, Australia /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – The final day of individual time trial events was the centerpiece of the third day of the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong. The morning had the Junior Women’s competing, with Chloe Patrick (Carson, Calif.; Serious Cycling) and Katherine Sarkisov (North Potomac, Md.; LUX Cycling Development Team) representing Team USA. Alex Gustin  (San Diego; LUX Cycling Development Team) and Artem Shmidt  (Cumming, Ga.; Hot Tubes Development Cycling) donned the red, white, and blue in the afternoon for the Junior Men’s race.

Junior Women

It was a sunny morning when Patrick took to the 14.1-kilometer course. As she passed through the halfway time split, Patrick was sixth on the road, 45 seconds down from the race leader at the time, Hannah Kunz (GER). As she went through the second half of the course, Patrick closed her gap to the leaders, finishing in a virtual fifth, stopping the clock at 21:38.92.

Reigning Junior Women’s Time Trial champion Sarkisov started the world championship 23^rd out of 37 riders. As she rolled through the intermediate time split, Sarkisov was 51.11 seconds back from the race leader on the road, Anna van der Meiden (NED). She finished her effort at 21:46.03. The final rider to take the course, Zoe Backstedt (GBR), lit up the course with her time of 18:26.78. Patrick and Sarkisov placed 26^th and 27^th, respectively.

Results

1. Zoe Backstedt (GBR) – 18:26.78

2. Justyna Czapla (BEL) – +1:35.58

3. Febe Jooris (BEL) – +1:48.98

26. Chloe Patrick (USA) – +3:12.13

27. Katherine Sarkisov (USA) – +3:19.25

Junior Men

Gustin came flying out of the start house to tackle two laps of the course. He blazed through the early checkpoints, sitting fourth on the road at the halfway point. As Gustin made a righthand turn with 11.9-kilometers left, he bobbled his turn and ended up crashing on course. Team mechanics were out quickly to get him back on track, but he lost valuable time. Once rolling, Gustin took some risks, tight lines through corners and pushing himself hard to recoup the lost time. While not able to recover every second of lost time, he did come back strong, finishing at 37:50.06, placing him fourth at the time.

The first rider in the last wave of Junior Men, Shmidt was going after Australian Hamish McKenzie’s time he posted in the first wave of the day. Going through the first intermediate time check, Shmidt was fourth on the road, 13.93 seconds back from McKenzie’s time. At each subsequent time check, he would maintain his top placing. On the back half of the last lap, Shmidt floored it and crossed the line in second at the time, with a time of 36:36.36. At the end of the day, Joshua Tarling of Great Britain took the top spot with his time of 34:59.26. Schmidt placed sixth and Gustin 24^th.

Results

1. Joshua Tarling (GBR) – 34:59.26

2. Hamish McKenzie (AUS) – +19.19

3. Emil Herzog (GER) – +33.45

6. Artem Shmidt (USA) – +1:37.10

24. Alexander Gustin (USA) – +2:51.20

Up Next

Racing will resume on Thursday in Wollongong (Wednesday night in the U.S.) with the Team Time Trial Mixed Relay. The event consists of the men’s team doing a Team Time Trial then tagging off to the women’s team to get across the finish line fastest. Team USA will include Neilson Powless (Roseville, Calif.; EF Education-EasyPost), Magnus Sheffield (Pittsford, N.Y.; Ineos Grenadiers), Patrick Welch (Northfield, Minn.; Kelly Benefits Strategies), Kristen Faulkner (Homer, Alaska; Team BikeExchange-Jayco), Leah Thomas (Santa Clara, Calif.; Trek-Segafredo), and Emma Langley (Richmond, Va.; EF Education-TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank).

Visit USACycling.org for more information on the athletes, events, and membership programs, and follow @USACycling across all channels for the latest on Team USA.

For more information, contact Angelina Palermo at apalermo@usacycling.org.

ABOUT USA CYCLING (usacycling.org)

USA Cycling is the national governing body for the sport of cycling and oversees the disciplines of road, track, mountain bike, cyclocross, and BMX. USA Cycling’s mission is to grow participation and engagement with the sport of bicycle racing and achieve sustained international success across all cycling disciplines. USA Cycling supports cyclists of all levels and abilities, from those just beginning in the sport to international caliber athletes. The organization identifies, develops, and selects cyclists to represent the United States in international competition through the support of youth and interscholastic programs, amateur and grassroots bike racing events, athlete development programs, and operational support for cycling clubs, racing teams, and event organizers. USA Cycling has a membership of 80,000, sanctions over 2,500 events annually, and is a member of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC).