Sarah Storey one step closer to being Britain's most successful Paralympian

Dame Sarah Storey moved one step closer to becoming Great Britain’s most successful Paralympian by smashing her own world record en route to stylishly retaining C5 3000m individual pursuit gold.
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In winning her country’s first gold of the Games, the cyclist took her total haul to 15 Paralympic golds – one short of swimmer Mike Kenny’s British record – and a phenomenal 26 medals overall.

The 43-year-old, who is tasked with inspiring people in Sheffield to move more in her role as active travel commissioner for Sheffield City Region, will have a chance to surpass Kenny next week when she attempts to defend her C5 time trial and C4-5 road race crowns.

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“For me as an individual, I’ve won a medal at every single Games I’ve been to and this is my fourth time winning the individual pursuit in a row,” she told Channel 4.

“I broke the world record in Beijing, in London, in Rio, this morning, so for me it’s been quite overwhelming to try and keep backing that up and keep pushing on the pedals to go faster and faster.”

Meanwhile, World and Commonwealth champion Ross Wilson secured the first win for the English Institute of Sport Sheffield-based ParalympicsGB table tennis team when he beat Frenchman Clement Berthier 3-0 on Wednesday.

His men’s class 8 teammate Aaron McKibbin also won his first match 3-0 against the Australian Nathan Pellissier but Barnsley’s Sue Bailey lost her opening game 3-0 despite winning the World Qualification Tournament in June.

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Bailey admitted she lost her focus after being penalised several times by the umpire for her service action.

Gold medalist Dame Sarah Storey.Gold medalist Dame Sarah Storey.
Gold medalist Dame Sarah Storey.

“It completely threw me,” she said.

“I’m just so disappointed as I felt so good going into the match but I just became so paranoid about my serve and it completely destroyed my confidence to the extent where I couldn’t play.”

She can still progress to the knockout stages with a win in her second match tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Great Britain’s Women’s Basketball team, who also train at the EIS, lost their first match of the tournament after going down 54-73 to Canada.

They will be back in action tomorrow against hosts Japan. The Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team also get their tournament underway on Thursday against Algeria.

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