Paralympics: History Making by Sarah Storey

Sarah Storey joined Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson as Britain’s most successful female Paralympian with a dominant performance to triumph in the 64km race, securing her fourth gold at London 2012.

Eamonn Deane writes … Sarah Storey duly delivered her 4th gold medal of the London Paralympic Games, winning the women’s C5 road race at Brands Hatch, with consummate ease.

Storey started as red hot favourite for the 64km race on the rolling, technical motor racing circuit in Kent. Indeed, the ten time Paralympic gold medallist is so far ahead of her rivals, it was difficult to see where the challenge would come from.

That question was answered straight from the gun. With the C1-3 men starting 2 minutes ahead of the women’s race, Storey quickly attacked off the front and it was clear what the plan was. The men were reeled in at 24 miles and from then on it was a procession!

Of course it is never that easy. Storey has done the work this year, with hard road miles and quality racing abroad and we’ll all remember that long lone chase after the best women riders in the world at the British Road Race Championships where she held three riders on her own for so long.

On the final lap, a cushion of seven minutes over the chasers allowed her to enjoy the moment; the high fives started 300 metres from the line. The large crowd were loving every minute of it in the warm sunshine and draped in the Union flag, Storey really is a crowd pleaser. Anna Harkowska of Poland outsprinted Kim Crowley of the USA to add another silver to the one she won in the time trial.

‘It’s just amazing,’ said Storey. ‘This has been the greatest Games for me. I won two gold medals in Barcelona, three in Atlanta, two in Beijing. I’ve won four here – I can’t get over it.

‘I wanted to put in my very best performance today and finish off the job I set out to do at the beginning of the week. I wanted to win every race and the outcome of that has been four gold medals, but you have to stay focused on the process that you’ve got to do and every race has got its own challenges. I just like winning bike races. The medals are the extra bonus at the end of them.’

RESULTS

Women’s Individual C 4-5 Road Race
1 STOREY Sarah 1:40:36 +
2 HARKOWSKA Anna 1:47:58 +
3 CROWLEY Kelly 1:48:34 +

6 LANE Crystal 1:54:50
Men’s Individual C 1-3 Road Race
1 BARGNA Roberto 1:42:51 +
2 WARIAS Steffen 1:42:51 +
3 NICHOLAS David 1:42:51 +

21 McKEOWN Shaun 1:43:52 +
24 COLBOURNE Mark 1:53:22 +