Colbourne strikes gold on cycling track

"I think at the moment I'm completely euphoric."

Emotions were high at the Velodrome on Friday (31 August), where Great Britain’s Mark Colbourne broke his own world record in one day in the individual pursuit C1 en route to gold with a final time of 3:53.88.

"I think at the moment I'm completely euphoric,” Colbourne said. “We've been training for two years and preparing for this final push for the last four months.”

Colbourne’s performance was inspired by another great British cyclist: “I follow the Bradley Wiggins philosophy of going from A to B as consistently as possible and obviously it works,” the new Paralympic champion said.

China’s Zhang Yu Li took silver and Argentina’s Rodrigo Fernando won the bronze.

One of Great Britain’s medal hopefuls in the C4-5 time trial, Jody Cundy, encountered a problem at the start, skidding out of the gate and never getting going. Cundy showed his frustration to the crowd but later addressed the Velodrome spectators and apologised for his behaviour and language. He was given a standing ovation.

The time trial title went to Spain’s Alfonso Cabello, whose time of 1:05.947 also broke the C5 world record that had belonged to Great Britain’s Jon Allan Butterworth..

The C2 race featured a record-setting ride from China’s Guihua Liang, clocking a 3:45.24 to beat Germany’s Tobias Graf for gold, as France’s Laurent Thirionot won bronze.

USA’s Joseph Berenyi rode to a conclusive win over Great Britain’s Shaun McKeown in a time of 3:37.91 for gold in the C3 class, as McKeown’s teammate, Darren Kenny, secured bronze.

World champion and world record holder Felicity Johnson gave Australia a golden opening to the second day's racing with victory in the tandem B classification. Piloted by Stephanie Morton, Johnson, brought Australia a third gold medal on the track with a Paralympic record in 1:08.91.