A Crash, a Tree and the Race that brought Samantha Bosco Back to Racing Glory

By Alex Carpenter, University of Tennessee

Samantha Bosco was ready to give up cycling. 

In 2021, Sam Bosco was focused and working at an elite level in the lead-up to the 2022 Tokyo Paralympic Games. But a serious training accident left the Team USA cyclist with two skull fractures and a traumatic brain injury. It led to serious questions: was this the end of Bosco's Paralympic journey? 

She was ready to retire, but her husband Andrew Bosco urged her to give cycling one more try. She decided to listen.

The best decision of her life came in Huntsville, Ala. 

“My first race back to decide if I want to keep racing my bike was here, Sam Bosco said. “I turned the corner after the finish, sat on the grass, and cried tears of relief. I just knew that this was something I wanted to do.”

At the 2023 UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup, she delivered a masterful performance – the best of her career at that point, sweeping both the time trial and the road race with gold performances and record times. 

Her decision and performance led to a Paris 2024 gold medal, and a newfound reason for cycling. Now in Huntsville at the 2026 World Championships, the 39-year-old is a world champion again. 

Competing in the WC4 classification of the time trials event, Bosco’s mind is focused. Unlike road races, her only competition is the time, the course, and the 100-plus-degree heat. 9.1 miles (14.6 km) and two laps of isolation. 

She dominated the competition with a 40:10.93 — almost 46 seconds faster than the rest of the field. 

“I got text messages from both my mom and my dad before I even knew I won,” Bosco said. “He couldn't be more proud.”

There was a look in Bosco’s eyes following her first medal: determination – the cyclist wasn’t done; she followed her dominant time trial with a photo finish in the WC4 road race, another gold, and a 1:44:55 time to edge past Australian rider Tara Neyland.

Bosco was six years old when she first sat down on a bike; it was love from the very beginning.

Riding to and from school in frigid Anchorage, Alaska, Bosco felt free; it's the same freedom she feels now when climbing onto a bike for a race. Freedom that she feels again in Northern Alabama. 

Standing with her medal draped around her neck, a UCI rainbow-striped world champion track shirt carefully worn over the top of her Team USA suit, she pointed out the exact spot she cried after her race back in 2023. 

The spot where her life changed was underneath a chestnut tree. A tree commonly known as adaptive, resilient, and able to produce no matter the situation. 

“Huntsville is an iconic place for her because it was a full-circle moment,” her husband, Andrew, said. “To be told that she's a world champion a couple of feet away from where she decided that this is what she wanted to do is pretty special.” 

Now residing in Claremont, Calif., there is one item on her mind, something pushing her forward since 2018 when it was announced — LA28. 

“LA is my own backyard. It's home for me. Having won gold in Paris and having been a world champion, being the current world champion, it's all about the experience and truly seeing how far I'm capable of,” Sam said. “I'm racing with an able-bodied team, Caldera Medical x AuREA Racing, and they've shown me that I'm stronger than even I knew was possible…hopefully that culminates in LA and defending a title there.”