Mixed C1-5 team sprint gold rounds off successful track cycling
Jon-Allan Butterworth, Jody Cundy and Louis Rolfe took ParalympicsGB’s tally of gold medals on the velodrome to eight with victory in the mixed team sprint.
The trio set a new world record time of 48.635 to beat the Chinese team and take the win to add to gold and bronze for Lora Turnham and Sophie Thornhill respectively in the tandem B 3000m individual pursuit and tandem time trial silver for Neil Fachie on Sunday.
It also meant ParalympicsGB finished top of the track cycling medal table at Rio 2016 with eight golds, two silvers and two bronzes.
For Wisbech’s Cundy, it was a seventh Paralympic title across both swimming and para-cycling and his second in Rio following gold in the C4-5 1km time trial.
He said:
“After four years ago and being the lowest I’ve ever been this is probably the highest I’ve ever been. I was properly nervous for the kilo, I didn’t really enjoy it that much. But this one, with these two guys, and the way they have been riding in the last couple of months, it’s a pleasure to get up there and perform."
Sutton Coldfield’s Butterworth, who finally landed a Paralympic gold after three silvers at London 2012, said:
“I said before that I would trade all my three silvers at London for one gold. Finishing fourth in the kilo wasn’t too much of a worry as I knew that the team sprint was my focus.
“I get more satisfaction out of a team event than the individual because three people have got to have a perfect ride. There’s so much room for error so when you get it right it’s amazing.”
Paralympic debutant Rolfe, who has now won individual pursuit bronze and team sprint gold in Rio, said:
“The overriding emotion is just relief. I believed that I could help Jon turn that silver in London into gold here.Also to replicate what our Olympic counterparts did in the team sprint as well is a really special feeling.”
Earlier Turnham and pilot Corrine Hall kept the gold rush ticking over in the Olympic velodrome as they took victory in the women’s B 3000m individual pursuit final with Thornhill and pilot Helen Scott taking bronze.
Turnham and Hall – who set a new Paralympic record of 3:27.460 in their heat – won an emphatic gold medal ride by nearly three seconds from silver medalists New Zealand in 3:28.050.
Turnham said:
“We really didn’t expect it to happen in the pursuit. New Zealand have been dominant since London. After a bronze medal at the Worlds in 2016 we knew we were capable of a medal but I never quite allowed myself to believe it would be gold. My mum and dad come pretty much everywhere I race, they support me all the way and it’s great to be able to share this with them. I can’t thank them enough.”
Turnham now turns her attention to wedding plans with the 28-year-old set to marry ParalympicsGB teammate Neil Fachie at the end of October.
Aberdeen’s Fachie himself won silver in the men’s B 1000m time trial alongside pilot Pete Mitchell earlier in the session, with their time of 1:00.241 only beaten by Dutch rider Tristan Bangma and pilot Teun Mulder.
