GB's gold haul

By Paul Carter

It was a fantastic start for GB’s cyclists at the Paralympic World Cup, with a host of medals and world records falling on the first day of the track cycling competition.

However, due to the absence of anti-doping officials at the Manchester Velodrome, the world records are unlikely to be ratified and will only stand as “world bests”.

In the men’s tandem B/VI 1km, GB’s Anthony Kappes and pilot Jonathan Norfolk smashed the world record in a time of 1:02.008.

The other big story of the day was a silver medal for Simon Jackson, the three-time Paralympic gold medallist in judo, who only took up track cycling three weeks ago.

He said: “I’m a bit of a psychopath and I like fighting and competing – that’s why I’m on a bike now.

“I got a back injury about a year and a half ago which forced me to give up judo, but I still wanted to compete. I love this – it’s fantastic,” he added.

In the final race of the day, Darren Kenny narrowly missed out on taking another world record in the 3km pursuit final.

Although he faded in the final two laps to finish just outside the world mark with a time of 3:39.39, it was still just enough to beat Cesar Neira from Spain.

That added a second gold medal to the LC3/4 and CP3 1km title he claimed earlier, where Rik Waddon and Simon Richardson picked up silver and bronze respectively.

Elsewhere, Ayleen McGlynn and Ellen Hunter broke the world record with 1:09.56 in the B/VI 1km tandem, while Jody Cundy took gold in the LC1/CP4 kilo event with Mark Bristow back in third.

Britain’s cyclists went on to add to the medal haul by picking up a further four golds and a silver on day two.

Sarah Storey built on her bronze from the 500m sprint by taking gold in the LC1/2 3km pursuit, but not before breaking her own world record in qualifying for the final.

She said: “I have been threatening to ride quicker than the world record in training and hopefully there is still more to come.”

Aileen McGlynn and pilot Ellen Hunter also added their names to the record books, setting a new world mark of 3.36.752 in the B/VI 3km pursuit.

GB’s other golds of the day went to Darren Kenny, Jody Cundy and Mark Bristow in the team sprint, and to Anthony Kappes and Jon Norfolk, who beat sprint newcomer Simon Jackson and Barney Storey in the tandem sprint final.