Paralympics GB: Record-Breaking Gold For Storey

Dame Sarah Storey has now won 12 Paralympic gold medals.

The 38-year-old was a Paralympic swimmer before an ear infection in 2005 forced her to switch to cycling full-time. “It’s incredible and I don’t think it will sink for a very long time”.

Nerves do not seem to afflict her and it was clear that becoming a double world champion was not beginner’s luck when the 31-year-old from Stratford-upon-Avon, a C3 rider, broke a world record in her first ever Paralympics race, winning her heat in 4min 03.544sec.

Storey, who smashed her own C5 3km world record in qualifying, was in a ruthless form in the final, beating Essex girl Crystal Lane in a one-sided final, overtaking her after 1450 yards to deal the win.

Storey now has 23 medals in total from seven Paralympic Games.

In her qualifying heat, Storey had set a new world record and looked at ease finishing in three minutes 31.394 seconds. She had the option to continue to go for another world record, but opted not to.

Grey-Thompson said: “I remember her as a skinny little 14-year-old in Barcelona, then she turned into a swimmer (with broad shoulders), now she’s turned into a cyclist”.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet but this is for my coach, team-mates and family members”, Giglia said. Competing on the worldwide stage was not one of Giglia’s ambitions when Storey won two golds in London four years ago but her life changed when she suffered a brain haemorrhage and a stroke at the age of 27 in 2013. “When I went over…”

Bate and Duggleby clocked 4:08.146 and met Holland’s Vincent ter Schure and his pilot Timo Fransen in the final.

That pitted the two fastest B individual pursuit pairs of all time against each other in the final and it was the team from Netherlands that got off quickest.

After blowing the competition away during the Olympics, there was more glory for British Cycling to cherish as the Paralympians dominated the track on the first day of competition in Rio. It’s hard to back-up a ride like that, but we did it. (Adam) is world class!

Dame Sarah Storey climbed the steep bank inside the Rio velodrome to embrace husband Barney and daughter Louisa in the crowd after becoming Great Britain’s most decorated female Paralympian, a record which has been 24 years in the making.