The Great Britain Cycling Team signed off their track success in the velodrome, blazing to three gold medals, two silvers and a bronze at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Mixed team sprint
It was a story of redemption for the mixed team sprint as Jody Cundy, Kadeena Cox and Jaco van Gass defended their Paralympic title after disappointment earlier in the week for Cox and Cundy.
The team proved they were on good form, qualifying with a time 48.493, over a second ahead of next fastest Spain, who they would come up against in the gold medal final. The final ride saw Cox set the team off to a flying start, allowing van Gass to rush the gap and continue to increase the lead on Spain. Cundy showed his skill and power in an incredible final lap to confirm domination over their opponent and take their second back-to-back Paralympic mixed team sprint title.
On winning his ninth Paralympic gold medal, Cundy said:
“It’s hard to believe that I’ve got nine gold medals. I couldn’t have imagined where I’d be when I started this journey in 1996. Another gold medal around my neck and it’s fabulous. This is the third team sprint gold which I’m pretty happy with. Title defended twice now which is pretty special.”
On coming back from her DNF earlier in the week, Cox said:
“I mean it was hard to get out there [after her DNF in the women’s C4-5 500m time trial final] and I’m grateful to these boys, the rest of the team, my family, everyone who messaged me to get me out there and have the confidence to get on the start line. It’s been a rough few days so to be able to come back and do this. I’m proud of myself and I’m proud of the team that we’ve come together once again and dominated."
Women’s B individual pursuit
Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl upgraded their Tokyo bronze medal to a gold, with a world record in the women’s B individual pursuit, while teammates Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall took home a well fought for silver medal.
In qualifiers, Unwin and Holl delivered a skillfully smooth ride that saw them break the world record in style with a time of 3:17.643 and put them in the gold medal ride off. Defending champions Fachie and Hall also delivered a strong time of 3:22.390 which would see them waiting for teammates Lizzi Jordan and Danni Khan’s heat to find out if they would qualify for a medal ride.
Jordan and Khan’s initial race was stopped after the French stoker unclipped, which led to a DNF for them and a restart for the Brits. A strong solo pursuit effort saw them deliver a time of 3:23.192 to put them into the bronze medal ride off against their compatriots.
The all-GB bronze medal final saw Fachie and Hall take an early lead of just over a second, with Jordan and Khan keeping close on their heels. By the second half of the race, Fachie and Hall were pushing on to a pace that Jordan and Khan couldn’t quite hold on to, with the gap growing to almost five seconds. Fachie and Hall did not let up and took their first win of the Games, the bronze medal.
Unwin and Holl took on Ireland’s Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal in an intense gold medal ride which saw the Irish lead by just over one second up at the 2km mark, making the Brits work hard to keep in contention for gold. With 1km to go, Unwin and Holl started to push the pace, gradually bringing back the lead. The nail-biting final lap saw them increase the lead, to win the gold by an impressive 2.166 seconds.
On their gold medal win, Unwin said:
“This was the event we wanted, we set out the goal after the World Championships last year. We said pursuit is what we want. We tried something totally new coming into this, we weren’t sure it was going to work out for us. It’s just incredible.”
Men’s B 1km time-trial
It was a GB one-two in the men’s B 1km time-trial as James Ball and Steffan Lloyd put on an impressive display to take the title from reigning Paralympic champions Neil Fachie and Matt Rotherham, who took the silver medal.
Ball and pilot Lloyd got off to a very strong start in qualifying, riding the second fastest time of 59.793, just 0.313 off the German pairing of Thomas Ulbricht and pilot Robert Foerstemann. Fachie and pilot Rotherham qualified fourth in a time of 1:00.543.
In their final ride, Fachie and Rotherham delivered an incredibly strong time of 59.312 which put them at the top of the leaderboard with three tandems to go. With the pressure on, Ball and Lloyd rode calmly and confidently, taking almost a second off their qualifying time, to deliver 58.964 seconds, which catapulted them to the top of the leaderboard.
It was a tense wait to see what the Germans could do, and with a time of 59.862 seconds, Ball and Lloyd clinched gold medal and the Paralympic title. Fachie and Rotherham took the silver medal, clocking a fantastic time of 59.312.
On taking his first Paralympic gold medal, Ball said:
“It’s unbelievable. Waiting for your turn to go up, we knew we’d have to follow something big from Matt and Neil, that’s how it’s always gone. The last time we won the kilo was 2019, we’ve just been chasing them. Our partnership has had time to gel, we have been trying to match them in the first 500m, that’s what we didn’t have. We have been working for this a long time and it has paid off today.
“It makes everything worth it. The staff behind what we do want it just as much as we do, which is something special. This is for everyone who has ever believed in us.”
On their partnership, Lloyd said:
“To do this with one of my best friends is unbelievable. We have been doing this for two years now, we’ve been so close every single time and he has never given up. There is no-one who deserves it more, he’s such a great guy. I’m so happy I helped him do this.”
Great Britain leaves the track with 14 medals; five gold, six silver and three bronze and will begin competition on the road on Wednesday 4 September from 7am BST
