Redemption for Kadeena Cox as Britain claim five medals in the velodrome

There were three gold medals for Great Britain on a triumphant five-medal day at the velodrome, starting with gold and silver in the men’s B1,000m time trial and finishing with a joyful redemption gold for Kadeena Cox in the C1-5 750m team sprint.
Cox, who crashed out of her C4-5 final on Thursday, tumbling at the first bend, rode the first lap in the sprint followed by Jaco van Gass and Jody Cundy – the final gold of the track taken by three British cyclists who, for different reasons, had extra skin in the game.
Cox had called her fall a “nightmare”, while Van Gass, who won gold in the C3 3,000m individual pursuit, had been disappointed with fourth in the C1-3 1,000m time trial, despite initially breaking his own world record. Cundy, fourth in the C4-5 1,000m time trial, keeps his incredible record of winning a medal at each of his eight Paralympic Games with this one a mind-blowing ninth gold across cycling and swimming. The three shared a delighted group hug at the end draped in union jacks.
In the men’s B 1,000m time trial, there was a first Paralympic gold for James Ball, who won silver in the same event at Tokyo, with his new pilot, Steffan Lloyd, coaxed over from rugby by British Cycling.
Because the pair qualified second quickest, they had an agonising wait to see if the German duo would be able to overcome their time. “I never want to do that again in my life,” said Ball. “I burst into tears afterwards because I didn’t know what to do. Next time let’s qualify first so we don’t have to go through that again.
“We were chatting away and realised we couldn’t see the board, the coach said they were six tenths down and we know that in the kilo, you don’t get that time back, so we were quite confident by lap three that we had it, but it’s not over till it’s over. But what a feeling! Tomorrow is going to be one hell of a day.”
Sophie Unwin and her pilot, Jenny Holl, who picked up bronze and silver at Tokyo, went one better with gold in a thrilling chase in the B3,000m individual pursuit against Ireland’s Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal, hauling them back in the second half of the race.
It was the medal they have been working towards for three years and the pair broke the world record in the morning’s qualifying, their two rides the fastest they had ever done. “It’s incredible,” Unwin said. “We’re known as the chatty ones, but I don’t think either of us have words. The amount of conversations my friends and family have had to deal with from me saying ‘I can’t do it, I’m not going to make it’, it’s nice they were here to see it.”
The husband and wife Neil and Lora Fachie, who took gold within 16 minutes of each other in Tokyo, had to settle for silver and bronze this time, with their one-year-old, Fraser, watching from the stands. Neil Fachie and his longtime pilot Matt Rotherham, celebrated silver in the B1,000m time trial, behind Ball and Lloyd, despite being only fourth fastest in qualifying. Lora, who became the first person to read a bedtime story in braille on CBeebies, collected bronze in the women’s B3,000m pursuit, and celebrated by hugging Fraser.