 Michael Sametz in 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | Canadian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | May 21, 1996 Calgary, Alberta, Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | University of Calgary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and road cycling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | C3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Michael Sametz (born on May 21, 1996) is a Canadian road racing para cyclist who competes in the C3 classification. He won a bronze medal for Team Canada at the 2016 Summer Paralympics – Men's road time trial C3.
Sametz was born on May 21, 1996, in Calgary, Alberta,[1] to mother Ronda.[2] After suffering a stroke in the womb, he was born with right hemiplegic cerebral palsy.[3] While attending Springbank Community High School, Sametz participated in Alberta Schools' Athletic Association sponsored cross country, golf, and badminton.[4] He began cycling at age 12 when he was looking to try a new sport and turned to competitive road and track cycling in 2014.[5] After graduating from high school, Sametz attended the University of Calgary as a business student with the intention of majoring in accounting.[1]
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A year after turning to competitive road and track cycling, Sametz won two gold medals at the Global Relay Canadian 2015 Road Cycling national championships.[6] He subsequently qualified for the 2015 Parapan American Games where he won a silver medal in the men's individual pursuit Cl-3 final.[7] In 2016, at the age of 20, Sametz was named to Team Canada's 2016 Summer Paralympics team.[8] In his Paralympic Games debut as the youngest member of the Canadian para-cycling team, Sametz won a bronze medal in the Road time trial C3.[9] He was subsequently honoured by Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi upon his return.[10]
Following his Paralympic debut, Sametz won a gold medal at the 2017 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships by beating silver medalist Sergey Ustinov in the C3 Track time trial.[11] He returned to the championships the following year and obtained a world championship title in the time trial.[12] Prior to the trial, Sametz chose to use a bigger gear on his bike to gain speed on the descents.[13]
In 2020, Sametz was named to Canada's Paralympic Team prior to the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics.[14]
