Great Britain reached an important milestone on day nine of the Paralympics in Paris, with five gold medals won so far taking them to 41 – the same number that the team achieved in Tokyo three years ago.
Sarah Storey, 46, won the C4-5 women’s road race to claim her 19th career Paralympic gold before Sophie Unwin, 30, was victorious in the B women’s road race, alongside pilot Jenny Holl. It was Unwin’s fourth medal in Paris.
Ben Sandilands, 21, set a new world record in the men’s T20 1500m final to win on his Paralympic debut.
Elsewhere in Para-athletics, Marcus Perrineau-Daley won silver in the men’s T52 100m final.
Alfie Hewett, playing alongside Gordon Reid, ended his long wait for a Paralympic gold with victory in the wheelchair tennis men’s doubles at Roland Garros.
And Poppy Maskill’s third Para-swimming gold of the Games, in the women’s S14 100m backstroke, matched ParalympicsGB’s tally from the Covid-delayed Games of 2021.
Elsewhere, in Para-table tennis, Robert Davies won silver in the men’s MS1 final category. Will Bayley booked a place in the men’s MS7 final later on Friday to guarantee him at least a silver medal.
Great Britain have won 95 medals so far at the Paralympics in Paris, including 41 golds. Only China, with 79 golds and 181 medals in total, are ahead of GB in the medal table.
Storey and Unwin win road race golds
On Wednesday, Storey won her 18th Paralympic gold medal in the women’s C5 time trial and just over 48 hours later, made that 19 in the road race.
With just one kilometre to go, Storey looked as if she would have to settle for silver but fought back to fend off a late attack from Heidi Gaugain, who she also beat on Wednesday, to claim her 30th career Paralympic medal.
Storey won by less than a second with a time of one hour 54 minutes 24 seconds. Her latest gold makes her only the fourth Paralympian to reach 19 gold medals.
In the afternoon, Unwin claimed her second gold in five days during the women’s B road race.
Like Storey before her, Unwin fended off close competition from Ireland’s Katie-George Dunlevy and pilot Linda Kelly before winning by three seconds.
Unwin’s Great Britain colleague Lora Fachie, alongside pilot Corrine Hall, finished third to win the bronze medal, one minute and 35 seconds behind.
Sandilands’ record-breaking debut
Sandilands was the first member of ParalympicsGB to claim a medal on day nine in Paris.
The Scottish Paralympic debutant won the men’s T20 1500m by more than four seconds. In doing so, he broke the world record, previously held by Michael Brannigan of the USA, by a tenth of a second in a time of 3:45.40.
A second medal on the track was won by Perrineau-Daley, 35. Another Paralympic debutant, he crossed the line in 17.27 seconds, just over half a second behind Belgian winner Maxime Carabin.
In the women’s T20 1500m final Hannah Taunton finished in fifth place, missing out on a medal by just over nine seconds.
Jonathan Broom-Edwards also came fifth in the men’s T64 high jump final, with a best completed jump of 1.89m.
Transgender athlete Valentina Petrillo is through to the semi-finals of the T12 200m after finishing third in her heat.
The 51-year-old Italian finished in a season’s best time of 25.95, just over half a second behind Simran of India, to qualify for the semi-finals, which take place at 18:42 BST on Friday. The final is at 18:33 on Saturday.
On Monday, Petrillo failed to reach the T12 400m final after finishing third in her semi-final, despite recording a personal-best time of 57.58.
Bayley sets up final as Davies wins silver
In the first of two Para-table tennis finals, Davies missed out on gold after losing to Cuba’s Yunier Fernandez in the final of the MS1 men’s singles.
Davies, 40, lost in straight games 14-12 11-7 11-4 to Fernandez.
It was the Brit’s second medal in the event, having won gold in Rio de Janeiro eight years ago.
Bayley may not have a 2024 Paralympic medal around his neck just yet, but a straight-game victory over Netherlands’ Jean Paul Montanus earlier on Friday ensures he will end his MS7 men’s singles campaign with at least a silver.
The 36-year-old, who has won four medals previously at the Paralympics, won his semi-final 11-7 11-6 11-2 against Montanus.
Bayley required only 20 minutes to set up a final against China’s Yan Shuo, scheduled to start at 18:15 BST.
Wheelchair fencing golds up for grabs
Great Britain’s male wheelchair fencers will be in action across two finals later on Friday.
Dimitri Coutya will contest the men’s epee category B final, scheduled for 18:40 against Visit Kingmanaw of Thailand. Coutya, 26, beat Michal Dabrowski of Poland 15-13 in the semi-finals.
Piers Gilliver is also in final action at 19:50 in the men’s epee category A, beating Turkey’s Hakan Akkaya 15-6 in their semi-final.
Meanwhile, Oliver Lam-Watson missed out on a bronze medal following a 15-11 defeat by Ukraine’s Artem Manko in round three of the repechage.
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