Britain’s Sarah Storey won a record-extending 19th Paralympic gold medal as she beat French rider Heidi Gaugain in a thrilling sprint finish to the cycling road race.
Storey, 46, was part of the leading pack throughout the 71km race before she and Gaugain – 27 years the Briton’s junior – broke away in the final section.
Storey edged clear of Gaugain in the final corners, before crossing the line just inches ahead of her rival.
She punched the air after crossing the line before hugging her daughter Louisa, who was watching on the roadside with the rest of Storey’s family.
“It’s really amazing,” Storey said. “I’m just delighted my wheel was in front at the finish.”
This is Storey’s 30th Paralympic medal, earned across two sports and nine Paralympic Games since she first competed at Barcelona 1992, and her 19th gold – no British athlete has won more.
It is her 13th gold medal in cycling following a switch from swimming, and fourth in successive Games in the C4-5 road race.
Storey, who did not compete in track cycling events in Paris to focus on the road events, adds race gold to the time trial title she won in Clichy-sous-Bois on Wednesday.
She formed part of the leading pack throughout the course, alongside 19-year-old Gaugain and Colombian rider Paula Ossa Veloza, who would eventually claim bronze.
But on the final circuit of the five-lap course, Storey and Gaugain broke away – with the experienced rider eventually winning out.
And afterwards Storey said she used Gaugain’s own tactics against her to gain the upper hand by the narrowest of margins.
“The lap before the end, her coach shouted ‘next lap on the left’. So I had a look where we were to make sure I was ready for that,” she said. “He shouted ‘go’, so I went too.
“Heidi took a bit of a gap [lead] but that was fine, I had speed. It was just a matter of holding her while she accelerated from a long way out, it was the only tactic she could use because I have the faster sprint.
“Then on the final corner, that’s when I unleashed it. She tried to come again, but I threw my bike and it was mine.”
