PARIS — British cycling star Sarah Storey claimed her 19th gold medal at a Paralympic Games by winning the women’s C4-5 road race on Friday.
The 46-year-old Storey finished just ahead of French teenager Heidi Gaugain in a sprint to the line as both completed the 71-kilometer course in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois in 1 hour, 54 minutes, 24 seconds.
“Today I knew we had a great breakaway, we built up a good lead,” Storey said. “Then Heidi Gaugain attacked with a lap and a half to go. Fortunately I speak a bit of French so I understood what she was told. So I was ready to attack with her.”
“I’m just delighted that my wheel was in front at the finish,” Storey added.
Colombia’s Paula Andrea Ossa Veloza was 20 seconds behind for bronze, with Samantha Bosco of the United States fourth, 2:39 behind the winner.
Storey had already won the C5 individual time trial for her 18th Paralympic gold on Wednesday.
She also won both the time trial and road race at the Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and London Games, while she won a women’s LC1/LC2/CP4 time trial in Beijing in 2008.
She has five more Paralympic gold medals from the track, and yet more from swimming since she won her first gold in the pool in Barcelona in 1992.
The Paris Games are her ninth Paralympics.
The China team set a world record in the 4×100-meter universal relay in para athletics, clocking 45.09 seconds in the heats to qualify for the final.
They beat the previous record of 45.52 seconds set by the United States during the first Paralympic final of the universal relay at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
The mixed-gender and mixed-disability race features teams of four athletes — two men and two women — with different disabilities.
Each team begins with a visually impaired athlete, followed by an amputee sprinter, then an athlete with cerebral palsy, and finishes with a wheelchair racer speeding to the line.
China’s relay was composed of Zhou Guohua, Wang Hao, Wen Xiaoyan and Hu Yang.
They will compete in the final later on Friday against the United States, Britain and Japan.
___
AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games
