Strathpeffer’s Paralympic Champion Fin Graham retains world title in road race in Switzerland to claim seventh world title
Fin Graham has retained his Para-Cycling World Championships road race crown.
The 25-year-old had won the event in each of the last two years, in Baie-Comeau in 2022 and then back home in Glasgow in 2023.
He had also taken gold in the same event at the Paralympic Games in Paris earlier this month, and in the end he eased to victory at the 2024 World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland.
It looked like being a two-horse race in the closing stages between Graham and Team GB teammate Ben Watson, but Graham eased clear over the last kilometre to win by 13 seconds in a time of 1:55:24.
After the race, Graham commented: “It’s super-special. The goal this year was the Paralympic Games, and I didn’t really know how the body was going to feel with the worlds two weeks later.
“Motivation was low and the training was hard, but to be able to take the world title for three years in-a-row and keep the rainbow jersey is so special.
“I just kept telling myself that the result in Paris shows that I’m in good form, but the course here was very different, very hilly.
“I was struggling after the first lap, but everyone else was as well, so it was just about recovering in every moment I can.
“Being away with Ben, I know him well and I know that he doesn’t quite have the sprint on me, so it was nice to get away and get the third world title in-a-row while sharing the podium with him.
“Now it’s off-season, so it’s time to get a rest. It was a nice way to end the season, and now I’ve got a chunk of time off. I haven’t really thought about celebrating yet, but we’ll see what happens.”
Both Brits were well clear of the rest of the field, with Graham finishing 88 seconds ahead of Canadian rider Alexandre Hayward in third.
Earlier in the week Graham had won a silver medal in the individual time trial, finishing 2.11 seconds behind Germany’s Matthias Schindler.
Having such a strong record in the road race meant that Graham was always likely to be among the contenders once again this afternoon, though, and he has prevailed to win his seventh world title to add to his first Paralympic triumph in what has been an amazingly successful 2024.
