The Road to LA28 starts here: How Huntsville Alabama became a destination for the world's best para-cyclists

By Alex Carpenter, University of Tennessee

Three years ago, an idea formed for Joel Lamp and other members of the Huntsville Madison County Convention Team— why stop here? 

The northern Alabama city had already hosted the domestic cups for Team USA Paracycling in 2021 and 2022 and a Para-Cycling World Cup in 2023 that brought economic growth, a spike in tourism and representation by world-class athletes. Then the call from the International Cycling Union (UCI) came. There was no hesitation. 

Space City earned its bid for the 2026 Para World Cycling Championships.

On the course over the weekend, spectators – some members of the Swiss Club of Alabama – an organization made up of Swiss nationals or people who simply have a strong tie to the European country and reside in the United States – have been at every corner, wearing red shirts and ringing cowbells. A vocal leader of the group, nicknamed ‘Samichlaus’ and resembling Santa with a long white beard, described the importance the group placed on ensuring that international governing bodies see fan support. 

Families, curious onlookers, and even a future handcyclist from Oklahoma, who traveled here to learn about the sport as he begins his para sport journey, have also crowded the streets for the event. 

“Being able to bring the entire world here in the midterms of the Olympic cycle — This is when everybody's really cranking up a lot,” said Lamp, the city’s sports development manager. “The road for LA28 starts here.” 

The road to a World Championship for a cyclist is not easy. A rider must first make their national team, then outduel thousands of other competitors at various World Cup events across the globe. Only then does the UCI extend an invitation. In the year prior to the Paralympics, the Worlds serve as a qualifier for the Games. 

Team USA tandem cyclist Will Seitz has been racing since he was five years old, when his dad propped him up on his first bike; an Alabama native who serves as the pilot on his tandem, the future engineer uses precise coordination to guide his partner, Owen Cravens, throughout the course. Being in Huntsville is a little different from the international events common in cycling. 

“It's just like home,” Will Seitz said, smiling. “I'm watching the British dudes go to Buc-ee's and have the time of their lives. One of them got a wood Louisville Slugger baseball bat, and they were playing baseball in their hotel room. I didn't realize how apparently American Huntsville, Alabama, is to people from all over the world because they're having the time of their lives.”

Logistically, it was a combined effort to bring 500-plus athletes and staff members from 49 different countries.

“We've got an entire park, a business park, that is shut down for a weekend to create a 20-mile loop for the athletes to race on. You've got to have a community buy-in,” Lamp said. “Cycling's a different animal altogether because you’ve got to have roads, right, and you have to make them safe and keep cars off of them.”

Over the course of the weekend, 53 new world titles are awarded across different classification categories; a major part of UCI leadership's role is ensuring fair play by separating competitors into divisions based on their level of impairment. The first two days of competition are time trials, racing the course – then road races to close out the event. 

There are four disciplines: Cycle, Handcycle, Tricycle and Tandem.

Within each, there are classes of athletes; the lower the number, the greater the impairment. If a rider is male and competing in the Trike with a severe coordination impairment, he would be MT1; if it were deemed a moderate impairment, MT2. There are also special changes made to the equipment.

“There are lots of adaptations, and so we're modifying the bikes all in unique ways to help the riders have an equal playing field,” said UCI Para Cycling Manager Todd Fraser. “You'll see athletes who are changing gears with their heads sometimes, athletes with unique drinking systems because they can't hold bottles as well, and you know what? They're also riding way faster than probably most, and more than any of us can even ride ourselves.”

The Worlds serve as a reminder of the rapid growth of para sports in the United States, due to funding from the USOPC, media coverage, and sponsorship deals. Huntsville has the honor of serving as the second-ever host of the World Championship in the United States and the first since 2014.

“This event here is a huge preparation for the athletes that are coming here because in two years we're coming back to the U.S,” said Lamp. “If I'm thinking about the U.S. market and where it goes, I think that this is going to be a huge opportunity to get visibility for para athletes. The competitions are amazing, the experiences are fantastic…the games are just going to be a huge stepping stone in the U.S. for para sport.”