Zanardi steals limelight at Brands Hatch

“It was great to live such an experience at 45 years old.”

The hero on the opening day of Paralympic road cycling was Italy’s Alex Zanardi.

The Italian handcyclist won gold on Wednesday (5 September) in the H4 time trial at Brands Hatch, a motor racing circuit that he has completed a great many times as a Formula 1 pilot in the past.

That was before a near-fatal motor racing accident in 2001 saw him lose both legs above the knee.

Although he did return to motor racing for a time, hand-cycling has been his main sport since 2007 and his win over the two laps of the circuit had the spectators in raptures. The rider rates it as one of the greatest accomplishments of his life.

“I worked very hard to get here,” he said. “It was great to live such an experience at 45 years old.”

The Czech Republic’s Jiri Jezek, was another popular winner as he came a step closer to becoming the most decorated Paralympic cyclist in history.

Silver medallist behind Roumania’s Carol-Eduard Novak in the C4 individual pursuit on the Velodrome a few days ago, Jezek blitzed the course to record the fastest C4 time on Wednesday at Brands Hatch, much to his surprise at the finish.

“I didn’t believe it. It’s just amazing,” he said after his golden performance. “I was fighting for silver because I thought Carol-Eduard Novak was in better shape. We can’t have radios so I didn’t have any information through the race. I just clocked my time and waited and now I’m just surprised.”

The other men’s golds went to Germans Michael Teuber (C1) and Tobias Graf (C2), Australia’s David Nicholas (C3) and Ukraine’s Yegor Dementyev (C5).

It was a particularly sweet victory for the Ukranian, who had to stop training for six months last year after being hit by a car and sustaining broken ribs, wrists, collar bone and two vertebrae.

USA grabbed two of the three women’s gold medals of the morning with Allison Jones (C1-3) and Megan Fisher (C 4). Great Britain’s Sarah Storey (WC5) clocked up her third gold of these Games after her two wins at the Velodrome just a few days ago.

“I spent so much time on the road this year,” she said. “That is where all my preparation has been done so I needed to nail this one.”

The remaining time trial gold medals of the day went to Switzerland (zH2 and WH3), Spain (MB), the Netherlands (WB), Ireland (MH1), Poland (MH3), Germany (WH4), the USA (WH1-2), Australia (Mixed T1-2)