Jennette Jansen (56) fighting for a silver medal in the Paralympic Games road race

This article was last updated on September 5, 2024

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Jennette Jansen (56) fighting for a silver medal in the Paralympic Games road race

Jansen wins the final sprint for second place and takes silver in the Paris road race

Jennette Jansen has won a silver medal at the Paralympic Games in the handcycling road race. She sprinted to second place well behind winner Lauren Parker from Australia.

Jansen did not want to say that she had lost gold. “No, I won silver,” he said resolutely after the finish. “The gold was way too far away.” Parker crossed the finish line more than four minutes earlier.

Delayed start

The start was delayed by an hour because it was raining heavily in Paris. And it was certainly not dry at the new starting time, but the riders started anyway.

It was already apparent in the time trial that Jansen was in good shape. She finished fourth, but all riders who finished above her come from the H5 class and have a lighter handicap than Jansen, who competes in the H4 class.

In the road race, Jansen did not have to deal with riders from the H5 class, but only with riders from classes H1 to H4, the heavier handicaps. Partly because of this, and also because she was the defending champion, she was considered the big favorite for gold in Paris.

The classes in paracycling

In Paris, paracycling includes hand cycles, tricycles, bicycles, and tandems. The sports class and type of bicycle have their own code, consisting of a letter (H, T, C and VI or B) and a number (1 to 5, where 1 indicates the most severe restriction and 5 the lightest).

Hand cycling (H) is a discipline in which the athlete rides a three-wheeled bicycle that is driven with the arms. The position can be lying or kneeling depending on the disability.

Normal cycling with some minor adjustments (C1 to C5): this discipline is for riders with amputations (with or without prosthesis), deformities, paralysis or cerebral palsy.

Tandems, for the visually impaired (VI or B): tandem races are ridden as a duo, with the front rider being the ‘pilot’ and steering the front wheel. The rear rider, the ‘stoker’, usually has a visual impairment.

In tri-cycling (T), the rider rides a bicycle with three wheels, with only the front wheel steering. This discipline is intended for riders with severe cerebral palsy (CP) or similar conditions.

And the 56-year-old Jansen took the lead on the soaking wet course straight from the start. She ended up in a leading group of three, but had a hard time. The Australian Lauren Parker is also in top form and Jansen had difficulty following the pace of Parker, 21 years his junior.

Jansen had to let go, Parker took off solo and took a big lead over the Dutch. Halfway through, the gap between Parker and Jansen was almost a minute and a half.

In the final phase she was overtaken by the Brazilian Jady Malavazzi and the German Annika Zeyen-Giles. Not much later, more riders joined the group with Jansen. But the Dutch still had enough left to win the sprint for second place.

“I thought for a moment: I’ve lost him. I have nothing left,” she referred to a medal. “Until I came to it again on the climb. Then I thought: death or the gladioli. I am very happy with this.”

At home in all markets

Before Jansen became a handbiker in 2012, she already had a long Paralympic career. She won three golds, two silvers and one bronze as an athlete and silver as a wheelchair basketball player.

She retired in 2004, missing out on Beijing (2008) and London (2012). She then started her career as a hand biker. The Paris Games are her last. “It is quite special. I can look back on many wonderful years.”