Lyle ends in style
Dunbar-born 200m runner claims third medal as Scots finish with a flourish, writes Mark Woods
WHEN the Paralympic Games close tonight in Rio, Maria Lyle will pack away three medals in her luggage and reflect on an odyssey to Rio that has delivered much and promises even more. The 16-year-old from Dunbar completed her competition with third place in yesterday’s 200m T35 final, rounding off a haul that included silver and bronze last week.
There is, she has declared, ample room for improvement on a Road to Tokyo 2020 that will see the British team have to deal with enlarged expectations after their plundering here, coming second only to China in the overall standings with over 130 medals and greater returns than were accumulated at London 2012.
Lyle, who has cerebral palsy, could do no more. In a repeat of the 1-2-2 from the 100 metres, and despite a season’s best of 29.35 seconds, she was adrift of China’s Zhou Xia, who set a world record to hold off Australia’s Isis Holt.
And the Scot, who is set to relocate to Hertfordshire this winter, will now be part of a squad brimming with belief headed into next summer’s IPC world championships in London.
“It will only help to keep pushing me to improve,” Lyle said. “Hopefully I’ll be in the mix again in London next year. Not everyone gets to come to a Paralympic Games, never mind win a medal, so it has been am amazing experience. Although it’s a relief to be finally done, now I can enjoy these medals.”
Andrew Mullen admitted he couldn’t top hometown hero Daniel Dias after doubling his medal tally from Rio with silver in the S5 50m backstroke.
In a repeat of their world championship duel in Glasgow 13 months ago, the 19-year-old had to settle for second best behind the brilliant Brazilian despite a lifetime best of 37.94 seconds.
But Mullen, who also reached last night’s S5 100m final after taking 200m bronze last week, conceded even losing to the 12-time gold medallist still stung.
“I go into every race wanting to win. That’s my personality, I like to think I can challenge anyone,” the Scot said.
“But that was a fantastic swim from Daniel. I came away with a silver, so it’s bittersweet. I’ve had a great week here, I’ve swam four races and swam three personal bests, so I can’t really complain about that.”
Ollie Hynd beat the world record in retaining his 200 individual medley SM8 title, destroying his rivals in a time of 1:47.32 to complete the Grand Slam of world, European and Commonwealth titles.
“I’ve been shooting for that record for a while and to get it here is just incredible, on the biggest stage of all,” said Hynd, who leaves with two golds.
“I knew it was going to be a fight to the finish, but I’m really happy I got my hands on it.”
Ellie Robinson took bronze in the S6 100m freestyle with teammate Ellie Simmonds sixth.
Ayrshire prodigy Abby Kane, 13, set a Paralympic record of 1:09.09 in the heats of the 100m backstroke S13 but Stephen Clegg missed out on the 50m free S12 final.
Teenager Jessica Stretton led a British 1-2-3 in the W1 archery, beating team-mate Jo Frith 137-124 in the gold medal game with Vicky Jenkins landing bronze.
Dame Sarah Storey won her 14th Paralympic gold in the 72km C4/5 road race, striking out alone to finish over three minutes ahead of her nearest rival, China’s Jianping Ruan. However Neil Fachie abandonned his road race with the double champion from 2012 leaving Rio with a lone silver on the track.
Helena Lucas became Britain’s most successful Paralympic sailor ever with a bronze medal in the keelboat.