Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Cox so very happy with Tokyo gold medal ride
KADEENA Cox hailed her electrifying world record as “near-perfect” as she set aside pre-Paralympic issues to retain the C4-5 500 metres time trial title.
Dual-sport star Cox dyed her hair red and blue ahead of powering to glory in the Izu Velodrome after fellow Great Britain cyclist Jaco Van Gass claimed a bronze.
The Leeds-born Paralympian came into her second successive Games having battled disordered eating and a series of injury issues since becoming one of the headlinegrabbing stories of Rio 2016.
Cox, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014, wrote her name into the history books in Brazil by setting global bests en route to claiming gold in the time trial and the T38 400m athletics event.
And she took an impressive first step towards emulating those achievements here in Japan by getting the better of Canadian rival Kate O’Brien before struggling to contain tears on the podium.
“It feels amazing, I knew I was going to have to do something special and I knew if I put everything together me and my coach have worked on, it would be amazing and that’s what happened so I am so happy,” she said.
“I think today I executed a race that was near-perfect. This year has been tough and I have tried to not focus on it, but I have been injured since my last session at the end of last year.
“It has made my eating disorder creep back up, which has been quite hard, but I have a great support network who have helped get me through and make this moment even more special.”
Earlier in the day, Afghanistan veteran Van Gass broke his second world record in as many days but had to settle for third place in the men’s C1-3 1000m time trial.
In the pool, Hannah Russell and Reece Dunn won golds as Britain’s swimmers grabbed five medals at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on day three of the Paralympics.
Russell retained her S12 100m backstroke title, while Dunn lowered his own world record by clocking 1:52.40 in the S14 200m freestyle.
Bethany Firth took silver in the S14 200m freestyle, with Jessica-Jane Applegate securing bronze, while Stephen Clegg claimed S12 100m backstroke bronze.
And Maria Lyle won Team GB’s first athletics medal by taking bronze in the women’s T35 100m final.