Caitlin Ward (born 1 February 1994) is an Australian track cyclist who has been selected for the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games.
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| Born | 1 February 1994 Frankston, Victoria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Personal
editCaitlin Ward was born in Frankston, Victoria, on 1 February 1994. She has a master's degree in Physiotherapy from Flinders University in Adelaide.[1] She runs track sessions for AusCycling in South Australia and co-owns JKT Coaching.[2]
Cycling
editWard became interested in cycling after participating in the Around the Bay in a Day in 2005 and the Great Victorian Bike Ride in 2006 when she was in the fifth grade at primary school.[1][3]
She was sidelined between 2015 and 2018 with a series of injuries including glandular fever and a broken ankle after a gym accident in which it was crushed by a 250 kilogram leg press,[4] but she came back to win the women’s sprint and keirin at the Australian national titles in 2019.[5] She represented Australia at the 2019–20 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Brisbane but missed out on selection for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.[1]
In 2022, Ward became the sighted pilot for blind Paralympian Jessica Gallagher at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where they won gold in the tandem B sprint and tandem time trial B at London's Lee Valley VeloPark. At the 2023 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Glasgow the following year they won silver medals in both events.[1] At the 2024 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in March 2024, they won bronze in the tandem B Sprint and the 1 km time trial.[6][7]
Ward was selected as pilot for Gallager at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris.[8]
Notes
edit- ^ a b c d "Caitlin Ward Results". Commonwealth Games Australia. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ "Track champion Caitlin Ward making 'paw-sitive' impact on animals lives". AusCycling. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ "More Great Vic alumni gold". Bicycle Network. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ "Aussie Tandem dream team of Jess Gallagher and Caitlin Ward forged from adversity". Jess Gallagher. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ Monteverde, Marco (7 April 2019). "Caitlin Ward finds redemption at nationals with double success". Courier-Mail. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ "Women's B Sprint and the". api.veloresults.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ "Women B 1km Time Trial Final". api.veloresults.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ "Paralympics Australia Names Cycling Team For Paris 2024". Paralympics Australia. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
