On a day of high expectations in paracycling, Britain’s women held up their end of the bargain, bringing home medals of all shades – one gold, two silver and a bronze – in a stacked day of time trials in the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-bois.
Dame Sarah Storey almost inevitably led the way, claiming the 18th gold medal of her Paralympic career in the C5 classification. Her success was followed by a bronze for Lora Fachie and silver medals for Fran Brown and Sophie Unwin, with the latter pushing herself to the physical limit alongside pilot Jenny Holl following their track gold earlier in the week.
Unwin only took up competitive cycling during the pandemic but made the British team for Tokyo in the visually impaired class and brought back two medals. This time around she has three, one of each colour, and said her improvement in the time trial was down to having learned how to dig deep.
“In Tokyo, I was so new to it, I didn’t know how to pace an effort, I didn’t know how to hurt myself in a time trial,” Unwin said after completing the 28km race and undergoing a subsequent bout of nausea. “I definitely know how to do that now. I don’t even know [how I manage it] I think a lot of it is I don’t want to let Jenny down. My job is just to put out power, I’ve got to do that as best I can until I literally can’t any more.”
According to Holl: “If you see Sophie after a time trial it is a sight to see. She can put herself in a box that I’ve just never seen anyone else be able to do. I can’t do it, I’ve never been able to do it, and it really is just a testament to how hard she can go.”
With the Irish rider Katie-George Dunleavy taking gold in the women’s B time trial, Unwin was followed home by Lora Fachie and pilot Corrine Hall who claimed their second bronze of the Games. Fachie, too, spoke to the physical exertion of going again in a different discipline, but did so with a smile, claiming the road was her “happy place”.
“We couldn’t have done anything more there today. We left it all out there,” Fachie said. “To be honest, I love the switch to the road. I find the track is very much like a pressure cooker. It just builds and builds and builds and I do it, but I find it very stressful, whereas I love the road. I always feel a lot more relaxed and happy. I’m in my happy place when I’m out on the road.”
As for Storey, she was pleased with her performance but also that of British female Paralympians more broadly. “I’m very happy. I’m over the moon. But I know that there’s always ways to improve things for the people that come behind you and for my opportunities in the future,” she said.
“It’s been fantastic to see ParalympicsGB with more females on our team than we’ve had before, that’s a real bonus. I think that bucks the trend of the Games overall because the parity isn’t there for lots of reasons. Not because of lack of wanting, but the lack of population and the opportunities for women with disabilities to be able to participate in sport at grassroots.”
Clichy-sous-bois made for an unlikely host for the road racing, at least in comparison to the many picture postcard places that have hosted sport during these Games. Site of the unrest which ignited the notorious riots of 2005, it has remained a neighbourhood entrenched in poverty but for the three days of competition Clichy is an international sporting venue. Locals lined the streets to watch the race and, particularly, the medal ceremonies which were held in public at the heart of the neighbourhood.
While Britain’s female riders were able to make regular trips to the podium and receive the cheers of the crowd, the men blew out entirely. Particularly surprising was the outcome of the C3 men’s time trial. Britain went into the race with three riders apparently competing with each other for gold; Jaco Van Gass, chasing a hat trick of gold, the world silver medallist Finlay Graham, and the reigning Paralympic champion Ben Watson. In the end the trio finished eighth, sixth and fourth respectively with Watson less than 2sec off a bronze medal but 54sec behind the gold medal winner Thomas Peyroton-Dartet of France.
Watson seemed almost befuddled by the outcome. “I couldn’t go any harder really,” he said. “I was in absolute bits at the end. I’m gutted, one and a half seconds off a medal. That’s sport, you do your absolute best and I was beaten by three better guys on the day. I went out to win today and went out hard. I just parked a bit in the second lap, the French guy [Peyroton-Dartet] who won seemed to accelerate. I didn’t quite have the legs ... on to the road race on Saturday.”
