Dame Sarah Storey sailed to her 18th Paralympic gold in the women’s C5 race to kick off a four-medal day for Great Britain at the road time-trials in Clichy-sous-Bois at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Success also came for Fran Brown in the C1-3 category, and Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall and Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl in the tandem races.
Women's C5 time-trial
Dame Sarah Storey proved she is the greatest of all time, soaring to her 18th gold medal in the women’s C5 time-trial. Last to set out onto the course, Storey started the 14km route conservatively, checking in at 5.8km with a 7.18 second gap to leader Heidi Gaugain of France.
Storey kept her composure and sailed through the second half of the hilly course, putting the power down in the final kilometres to pull back the gap. Crossing the finish line, Storey clocked a gold medal-winning time of of 20:22.15, 4.69 seconds ahead of Gaugain who would take silver. Storey’s win marked her 18th gold Paralympic medal overall, and an incredible fifth consecutive road time-trial win.
On how she feels about her win, Storey said: “On top of the world. I came here to try and get the gold medal for the fifth time, fourth defence and I’ve done it. It was the perfectly paced ride. I was down seven seconds at the first time check, but I knew that was the easiest part of the course because there were quite a few descents and technical sections where you can get free speed, have a recovery and be prepared for that first climb.
Women's C1-3 time-trial
It was jubilation for Fran Brown as she took her first medal of the Paralympics, a sensational silver in the women’s C1-3 time-trial, while teammate Daphne Schrager finished just outside the medals in fifth place.
It was a cat and mouse chase, with the lead changing throughout the 14km course in a race that saw just 45 seconds separate the top five places. For the Brits, Schrager started out confidently, leading the charge by 4.56 seconds at the first checkpoint. Setting off a few minutes after, Brown took the first place position at checkpoint one, leading on Schrager by 5.68 seconds.
With Anna Beck (Sweden), Flurina Rigling (Switzerland) and Maike Hausberger (Germany) joining them on the course, the leaderboard became increasingly animated, with just 22 seconds separating the top five riders. Schrager crossed the finish line with a 28.68 second lead with nine riders to go, before Brown moved into the hot seat with a time of 21:46.18, knocking Schrager to second with six riders to go. Hausberger clocked an impressive time of 21:30.45 pushing Brown down into the silver medal position, where she finished overall at first time of asking.
On today’s result, Brown said: “I’m just chuffed. I wanted a medal of any colour so silver is amazing. [The course was] challenging. The unexpected little chunk of cobbles just to throw everyone off and the hills, but its nice that we had something different. I enjoyed it. It was different. I would have liked a little bit of a longer course as well, I think we are capable of riding a bit further. But we all did the same course at the end of the day so make the most of it.”
Women's B time-trial
There was double success for GB’s female tandems as Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl took silver, while Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall won the bronze in the tandem time-trial.
Unwin and Holl led from the off, setting the pace reaching the first checkpoint in 6:45.04. The next 14km saw the duo, fellow Brits Fachie and Hall and Irish duo Katie-George Dunlevy and Linda Kelly vie for seconds, with just 22.12 seconds separating the tandems.
The Irish had extended their lead to 46 seconds ahead of Unwin and Holl, with Fachie and Hall around a minute behind them as the podium seemed to be cemented heading into the final few kilometres. Dunlevy and Kelly extended their lead by a further 37 seconds to claim the win, with Unwin and Holl taking the silver medal, their third of the Games and Fachie and Hall taking the bronze.
On their TT silver medal win, Unwin said: “It’s amazing, in Tokyo, we weren’t anywhere in the TT, we weren’t good at TTs yet, we’ve put a lot of work into them and we knew today would be a really tough race. It’s really nice to come away with a silver.”
Lizzi Jordan and pilot Danni Khan put in a strong performance in their first Paralympic road event, eventually finishing sixth overall in a time of 42:59.54.
On their bronze, Fachie said: “It’s great to get a second medal in the Games. Two bronzes, we couldn’t have done anything more there today. We left it all out so it’s great to come away with something.”
Men's B time-trial
It was all to play for in the men’s B time-trial as individual pursuit silver medallists Steve Bate and Chris Latham fought to the very end for a podium place, ultimately just missing out with a fifth place finish.
It was a four-way fight over 28.3km between the Brits, Elie de Carvahlo (France) and the Dutch bikes Tristan Bangma and Vincent ter Schure, alternating positions between checkpoints. The Brits originally led, before dropping six seconds behind the French. By the halfway point, Bate and Latham had dropped to fourth, 4.77 seconds behind Schure and pilot Timo Fransen, before moving back up to second as they went early through the final time check.
Inside the final 10km, the British duo were 27 seconds off the podium places, with Schure and Fransen hot on their heels less than a second behind. Unfortunately, it was just not to be and the duo came in fifth overall.
Men's C3 time-trial
It was a nail-biting wait in the men’s C3 time-trial to see if Ben Watson could defend his Tokyo title, or Fin Graham could uplift his previous silver medal as both Brits tussled with the stop-watch over the 28.3km route.
Graham started comfortably, initially taking the fastest checkpoint time of 7:01.34, before Watson shot out of the starting gate to take first in 6:45.84. Graham continued to stay within medal contention for the first half of the race, with just 6.49 seconds between him in fourth place and his teammate in first.
As the second lap rolled on, Watson dropped to third place behind Matthias Schindler (Germany) and Alexandre Hayward (Canada) but stayed just over 11 seconds away from first place.
The final leg saw France’s Thomas Dartet-Peyrouton and Eduardo Santas Asensio (Spain) pick up the pace, putting the pressure on Watson to hold third, while Graham dropped into sixth. As the final finisher, with the three leaders already crossing the finish line, Waston needed to give one more big push to get that podium spot and unfortunately just didn’t have the legs and came home in fourth place, 1.55 seconds off the podium. Graham finished sixth overall in a time of 39:39.46.
Jaco van Gass started well, second at the first checkpoint and moving up and down the top seven for the first half of the race, before a problem with his prosthetic attachment forced him to pull over, losing around three minutes. Managing to get back on just before the third time check, van Gass ultimately finished eighth in a time of 43:19.48.
Men’s C5 time-trial
Sprint specialist Blaine Hunt delivered a well-handled time-trial in a competitive field, finishing 11th place with a time of 42:22.07 over the 28.3km course. He will return for the road race on Friday 6 September.
Men’s C4 time-trial
In his first Paralympic Games, Archie Atkinson rode a valiant time-trial in a hotly-contested field. The 20-year-old began conservatively in sixth place at the first time-check, just 10.8 seconds behind the leader. By the second time-check at 19.1km, there was 46 seconds separating Atkinson and a medal, but today just was not the day and he rode home in 38:23.52.
Men’s C2 time-trial
Games debutant and individual pursuit bronze medallist Matt Robertson took on the 28km time-trial course, having to re-compose himself after a late start. Coming into the first time check in fifth place, 12.65 seconds off third place, Robertson was going well from the start. A consistent ride for the next 23km saw him cross the line with a time of 20:52.15, putting him fifth overall.
There will be no racing for Great Britian tomorrow, but you can catch the men’s and women’s C4-5 road races, and men’s and women’s tandem road races on Friday 6 September from 8:30am BST.
