Team GB's success continues while Sophie Thornhill brings gold medal in Velodrome.
Less than 24 hours after cyclists Dame Sarah Storey, Megan Giglia and Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby all enjoyed success on the track, the tandem duo of visually-impaired cyclist Thornhill and Helen Scott celebrated becoming Paralympic champions.
The British pair stormed to victory in the women’s B 1000m time trial. In the penultimate ride of the final, they clocked a Paralympic record time of 1:06.283.
Thornhill said: “This has been months and months of hard work, and hours in the gym and velodrome to get here.”
Scott said: “We’ve always had a fast opening 500m, so we knew if we got out quicker than anybody else it would mean they would have to work double hard to try to catch us. They did at the worlds, they caught us, but today was different.”
In the hours before the final, Thornhill unexpectedly received a tweet in her inbox from the official Manchester United Twitter account, which has 8.75m followers.
The message said: “Good luck out in Rio, Sophie. Everyone at #MUFC has their fingers crossed for you.”
And it proved to be a timely boost for the tandem duo.
“My life is complete now – I have had a note on Twitter from United!” said Thornhill.
“I am a lifelong United fan. The tweet this morning was brilliant. To actually go on the pitch ahead of a match would be brilliant.
“In fact, I would be able to die after that! That would be my life ambition complete.”
In the penultimate ride of the final, the British pair clocked a Paralympic record time of 1:06.283.
The Dutch pairing of Larissa Klaassen and pilot Haleigh Dolman, the reigning world champions, failed to surpass that winning mark.
Thornhill said: “When I’m riding, I can’t see the board so all I am looking for is a green or a red thing to see if they are up or down on our time. And I couldn’t see a green thing throughout their race.
“This has been months and months of hard work and hours in the gym and velodrome to get here.
“We were devastated after finishing second at the last worlds. So, this means everything to us.”
Thornhill attended the same Poynton High School in Stockport as Dame Sarah Storey, 38, who won a record 12th Paralympic gold medal on Thursday night.
She said: “One of Sarah’s gold post boxes is literally just round the corner from our high school.
“Someone that has won as many gold medals as she has is an inspiration to anybody. She has always been really welcoming to me and always supported me, given me a few bits of advice.”
Before that, Ireland’s Jason Smyth confirmed his status as the fastest man at the Paralympics when he won a third T13 100m title. His time of 10.64sec was 0.14sec quicker than Namibia’s Johannes Nambala in second.
Smyth then hit out at the IPC officials for discontinuing the T13 200m since London 2012, meaning he could not achieve the sprint double for a third successive Games.
Smyth, 29, said: “I am frustrated by the decision. There is no getting away from the fact it would have been great to have gone double-double-double. I took a double gold in Beijing and London so the next step would be a double in Rio.
“It would’ve been incredible to have it here. It’s disappointing, not only for me, but the T13 category is one of the quicker events and I think that for spectators, you want to see fast times.”
Stef Reid won silver in the T44 long jump while Gemma Prescott was a bronze medallist in the F32 club throw. Power-lifter Zoe Newson won bronze in the women’s -45kg.
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