Alfredo De los Santos held out both his hands for Ryan Pinney and Brandon Lyons to take. Cruising down the final stretch, their plan had worked perfectly.
The U.S. trio created early separation from the competition. They raced in a single-file line, protecting each other from potential overtaking. And now, a United States sweep of the podium for the men’s H3-5 Road Race Final was inevitable. But the finish had to be perfect.
“This is what we ultimately wanted. We wanted to cross the line together,” Pinney said. “You have the idea but to actually see it come to fruition is pretty remarkable and exciting. I’m honored just to be with the two of them.”
The cyclists rolled past the finish line, hands linked, to see out their final race amid a crowd of cheering spectators. De los Santos won gold while Pinney and Lyons placed second and third — three of eight total U.S. road cycling medalists on the final day of the 2023 Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile. A week ago, on Nov. 19, Team USA’s athletes produced near-identical results, earning seven medals across seven events. On Saturday, they extended their dominance until the very end.
“You have to believe in the plan, you have to believe in yourself and you have to believe in your teammates,” De los Santos said.
His final outing was memorable due to the presence of his family. Spread out around various checkpoints — whether it was near Team USA’s tent or hugging the sidelines of the course — De los Santos’ wife and two kids helped make the affair “better than any Paralympics I’ve ever been to.”
When De los Santos mounted the podium, they cried and cheered him on.
“I think they’re going to go home and have a different attitude towards Papi,” De los Santos joked.
***
Kate Brim couldn’t sleep. She was too excited. Throughout the course of her career, all of Brim’s races were time trial efforts, meaning she completed circuits alone before comparing times with competitors. The women’s H2-5 Road Race was different.
“I was a kid on Christmas. I was so excited,” Brim said about receiving a call Friday that informed her about racing in real time against others. “I ended up having to calm myself down so I could actually sleep because I was so excited.”
Pitted in a field of six alongside Team USA’s Ruth Rollman, Brim won a silver medal — her second of the Games. Rollman, meanwhile, finished third. Brim called her “first true racing experience” amazing, and credited the partnership with Rollman for her success.
But the last year hasn’t been easy for Rollman. In August, during the 2023 Union Cycliste Internationale Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, an undisclosed illness had kept Rollman from competing.
Even now, she doesn’t feel “100 percent.” But in an extreme, “down to the wire” race she was the proud recipient of a bronze medal for the fifth time in her para cycling career.
And, she accomplished the feat just one day before her 36th birthday.
“We set our national standards for cycling to be within that range for medal potential,” Rollman said. “It shows. It is in our eyes, in our hearts and we make it happen.”
***
Dennis Connors openly wept when he heard the United States National Anthem. Tears appeared again when asked what it meant to represent his country.
A retired U.S. Marine from 2003-12, Connors doesn’t like to take days off. Why should he when other countries aren’t? The training that went into his preparation for the Games is unparalleled. In the mornings, Connors receives a new, specially tailored workout from his trainer daily. He waits until the kids leave for school before hopping on his spin bike for multiple rides, usually two hours at a time.
“There’s no stopping,” Connors said. “It’s just on.”
Yet, his long, strenuous regimens have culminated in a gold medal in the Mixed T1-2 Road Race. Neck-in-neck with Colombia’s Juan Betancourt, Connors eventually pulled away. He led comfortably for the final four kilometers.
Connors joked that those in attendance likely saw him “bawl like a baby,” on the podium but expressed that his emotions are derived from remembering the “sacrifices that others make so I could be here.”
“Serving Team USA is always an honor,” Connors said. “Every time I hear the National Anthem, I know what it really means, and what it means to me.”
Other Team USA medalists in road cycling include third-placed Jamie Whitmore in the women’s C1-3 Road Race and second-placed Samantha Bosco in the women’s C4-5 Road Race.
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