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Daniel Chalifour
Daniel Chalifour’s rapid rise
In 2006, Daniel Chalifour pushed on a racing tandem bike pedals for the first time. Well settled behind his pilot, Normand Couillard, Daniel quickly took a liking to it.
The following year, he teamed up with a new well experienced pilot, Alexandre Cloutier who has a long record, in particular, at the Paralympics as well as at numerous World Championships. Success was immediate. We won everything in Canada and since then, I think we took 15 Canadian titles out of 17
, Daniel says.
How does he explain such dominance? I have good potential and Alex is a good athlete. We both have similar athletic qualities, which is essential in tandem, because we both move the cycle forward at the same time. I like the comparison with cars. If two cars each develop 200 horsepower, but one is revving at 2000 revs/minute and the other is turning over at 4000 revs/minute, it can’t work. We are two
pedalers
as we say in the cycling world.
Only three years after his debut, Daniel took part in the Beijing Paralympics where he took fourth place in track pursuit. A heartbreak fourth place when you know that Chalifour and Cloutier had clocked the third best time in qualifying. Further, if they had been faster by 20 one-hundredth of a second in qualification, they would have been assured of a medal by qualifying for the gold medal final. That’s sport!
Chalifour humbly admits, adding that he did not accept this fourth place too well. However, his bitterness was short-lived.
Today, he is fully motivated on the eve of this pre-paralympic year. The goal is to always outdo oneself. In cycling, my progress is easy to see, because it is measured in watts. I can compare my results in training year after year and I am always progressing. In time trial, Alex and I are always closer to the leaders.
As an example, the athlete hailing from Lac-aux-Écorces in the Mont-Laurier area explains that the interval between them and the time trial gold medalists at the 2007 World’s was 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Last year at the Baie-Comeau World’s, they lagged behind by only about 30 seconds.
Therefore it would not be surprising to see the gap shrink even more, especially since this year, Cloutier, the pilot, has put on hold his studies to become a firefighter.
At the Paralympic Games in London, we will be aiming for a podium in the time trial on the road as well as in pursuit on track. And it is possible!
concludes a very determined Daniel Chalifour.
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