Nothing like a Dame as Sarah makes it 60 golds
DAME SARAH STOREY was imperious in winning Great Britain’s 60th gold medal of the Rio Paralympics – and barely had to break sweat.
Storey won Britain’s 131st medal with a commanding victory in the women’s C4/C5 road race.
Anna Harkowska of Poland was Storey’s nearest rival, finishing three minutes 29 seconds behind, while Crystal Lane won the bunch sprint for bronze, 6mins 16secs adrift, taking Britain’s 132nd medal.
Storey’s third Rio gold and 14th Paralympic title of a career which began as 14-year-old swimmer in Barcelona 24 years ago was supreme, but only because her class told.
The 38-year-old, who was born with a deformed left hand, races in World Tour races alongside her Olympic counterparts and her training times this week on the Grumari ascent were better than many of them when racing last month.
The 75-kilometre road race course featured three 15km laps on the flat beach front at Pontal before heading for the hilly Grumari circuit where Storey made her move – prior to the steepest climbs.
“I just had to keep being patient and wait, stay out of trouble in the bunch,” Storey said.
“I looked down at my power ( meter) and felt like I’d warmed down from the warm up in a way, because it was kind of a nothing course down here.
“I think we averaged 32kpm an hour for that first 45km which is worse than a coffee ride.
“We couldn’t even chain gang, because everyone would’ve been quite happy to sit behind me and I knew that.
“I had to be really, really patient and try not to worry about anything and just focus on that first rise up the Grumari.
“Once I hit that first rise I put in a bit of an attack to see what would happen and the elastic broke straight away.
“I got the (two-rider) breakaway back pretty quick and I was timetrialling away, looking at the power, making sure I kept it higher than I knew the chase could manage.
“( I) kept pushing up that first steeper climb, took the descent pretty hard and then kept time-trialling.”
Storey’s win followed her day one triumph in the 3km individual pursuit – a win which saw her overtake wheelchair racer Tanni GreyThompson as Britain’s most decorated female Paralympian – and the road time-trial last Wednesday.
Storey, who won four golds from four events at London 2012, rode away from the field to win the road race four years ago at Brands Hatch.
She was pleased officials revised the initial course after fearing the Rio route would be just along the beach front.
Britain are now five gold medals short of their haul of 65 from 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 place ahead of Britain.
China lead the medal standings, but Britain’s advantage over a chasing pack led by Ukraine appears unassailable.
Storey, 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.
“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.”