Rowell wins maiden gold medal at Para-cycling World Champs

Erin Rowell won her maiden gold medal in the C4 Women's Sprint event at the Para-cycling Track World Champs in Rio. Photo: ARA AUSTRALIAN CYCLING TEAM/FACEBOOK

By TIMES NEWS GROUTORQUAY para-cyclist Erin Rowell has claimed her maiden gold medal after a triumphant finish in the C4 Women’s Sprint final at the 2025 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio.

Rowell qualified second behind Great Britain champion Kadeena Cox to face her and New Zealand’s Siobhan Terry in Sunday’s final.

In an epic race, the 42-year-old was able to control the sprinter’s lane early before pushing the pace from the front to win by a bike length in a strategic masterclass.

On the Australian Cycling Team’s website, Rowell expressed to how surreal it felt to finally secure gold.

“Honestly, I still can’t quite believe it!” she said.

“I worked so hard this year and had the best team around me, so this one feels really special.”

Rowell explained her plan for the race, which came off the back off her hard work to reach the final.

“The plan was to get to the front early and take control of the race,” she said.

“I knew if I could own the lane and make her come around the long way, it would put the pressure back on.

“From there it was just about holding my line, committing fully, and backing the work I’d done in training.”

The success didn’t end there, with Rowell also winning the gold medal in the Mixed C1-5 Team Sprint event alongside Gordon Allan, Michael Shippley and Korey Boddington. Boddington was the hero, pushing hard in the final lap to close out the victory.

Rowell is active in the Surf Coast community, having founded pilates studio Torq F1t in California with her brother Ryan, with their studio located in their hometown of Torquay.

It caps off an extremely successful Championships for Team Australia, with their 16 gold medals and 25 total medals putting them atop the leaderboard. There were also six new world records by Australian para-cyclists across the four-day event.

Geelong’s Jess Gallagher was involved in one of the record-breaking titles, having been part of the Tandem Team Sprint alongside Jacqui Mengler-Mohr, Kane Richards and Luke Zaccaria.