Rio Nothing like a Dame as Sarah grabs a 14th title
GREAT BRITAIN moved within two of equalling their second best Paralympic haul of gold medals as Dame Sarah Storey celebrated a 14th title of her distinguished career yesterday.
Storey – Britain’s most decorated female Paralympian – won ParalympicsGB’s 60th gold of the Rio Games with victory in the women’s C4/C5 road race.
Jessica Stretton had earlier led Britain to a one-two-three finish in the women’s wheelchair archery.
A 61st gold came when Jo Frith, silver medallist behind Stretton in the individual event, combined with John Walker to win the team event ahead of South Korea.
Swimmer Ollie Hynd won the SM8 200 metres individual medley and Hannah Russell won the S12 50m freestyle for gold No. 63.
Team GB now have 141 medals in all.
Britain won 65 gold medals at the Seoul Paralympics 28 years ago.
Only the tally of 107 golds from the New York/Stoke Mandeville Games of 1984 seems beyond them.
One caveat in the medal count is that the Russian team is absent, banned by the International Paralympic Committee for statesponsored doping.
Russia finished second in the London 2012 medal table, behind China and one ahead of Britain.
China lead the medal standings, but Britain’s advantage over a chasing pack led by Ukraine appears unassailable.
Storey claimed her third title of the Rio Paralympics, 24 years after her first Games as a 14-year-old swimmer in Barcelona.
Storey’s win in the 75-kilometres road race followed her day one triumph in the 3km individual pursuit – a win which saw her overtake wheelchair racer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson as Britain’s most decorated Paralympian – and the road time-trial last Wednesday.
She is now two gold medals behind swimmer Mike Kenny, who won 16 gold medals in his career.
The 38-year-old, at her seventh Paralympics, is well-placed to appraise the British performance after four Games as a swimmer and now three on the bike.
“When you think back to Seoul, it’s kind of thought to be the first Paralympics of the modern era, but you still had way more classifications out there,” she added.
“When you think we won 65 medals there like that, this makes this team incredible.
“And OK, people keep talking about the fact Russia aren’t here, but we’ve been making world-record performances, we’ve been going quicker and faster than we did previously.
“Hats off to everyone within the team. I’m just so delighted to have played a small part in that.”
After Walker’s win on Friday, a second archery gold medal followed on the penultimate day of the Games.
Jessica Stretton beat team-mate Frith in the women’s wheelchair final137-124totakeParalympicsGB’s overall medal tally to 129.
That was after Vicky Jenkins won the duel for bronze, beating Kim Ok-geum of South Korea 125-124.
Walker and Frith then combined to beat Kim and Koo Dong-sub 139129. That took the overall medal count to 129 and Maria Lyle took bronze in the T35 200 metres on the athletics track to make it 130.
Storey’s gold was No. 131 and Crystal Lane took bronze behind her team-mate for No. 132.
The men’s wheelchair basketball squad added bronze with an 82-76 defeat of Turkey and sailors Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell took bronze in the two-person keelboat.
Helena Lucas, the first person selected for Britain’s Olympic or Paralympic team for Rio in April 2015, took bronze in the one-person keelboat.
Lucas, champion at London 2012, had been in gold medal position with one race to go but finished 15th to slip to third.
Ireland won their 10th medal of the Paralympics when Katie-George Dunlevy and pilot Eve McCrystal claimed silver in the women’s tandem event. The pair won gold in Wednesday’s time-trial.
Britain’s Lora Turnham and pilot Corrine Hall were fourth.
Steve Bate and pilot Adam Duggleby took bronze in the corresponding men’s event, won by Vincent ter Schure and Timo Fransen of Holland.
Swimmer Ellie Robinson finished with bronze in the S6 100m freestyle, behind Yelyzaveta Mereshko as the Ukrainian set a world record of one minute 11.40 seconds. Ellie Simmonds was fifth.
After Hynd won in a world record of 2mins 20.01secs, Steph Millward finished second in the corresponding women’s event.
Then Russell triumphed in 27.53 for her second gold of the Games.