Within one hour of the final day of the track cycling competitions at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, a husband and wife both won gold medals, both in world-record fashion. A total of 48 world records were broken over the four days of competition at the Izu Velodrome, the most ever set at a para-cycling track event.
In the MB 1000m time trial, Neil Fachie and his pilot Matthew Rotherham went into the event among the pre-race favourites, Fachie having set the world record back in 2019. Fachie also had three Paralympic medals to his name from London and Rio including gold in this event at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The pairing lived up to the hype in Tokyo with a stunning 58.038 effort that smashed the 2019 world record by over a second, deriving from a startling average speed of 62.028km/hr. James Ball, piloted by Lewis Stewart, made it a Great Britain one-two in 59.503, while France’s Raphael Beaugillet, piloted by François Pervis, finished third in 1:00.472.
Unbelievably, an hour later, Lora Fachie and her pilot Corinne Hall won gold in the Women’s B 3000m individual pursuit in a time of 3:19.560. Ireland’s Katie-George, piloted by Eve McCrystal, took silver in 3:21.055. Great Britain’s extraordinary start to the final day of the track meet saw Sophie Unwin and pilot Jenny Holl win bronze in 3:23.446.
Fachie and Hall’s super Saturday started earlier in the day when they set a new world record in qualifying, their 3:19.483 knocking over half-a-second off Emma Foy’s previous record of 3:20.819, set at the 2020 UCI Parra-cycling Track World Championships in Milton, Canada.
After the races, Neil Fachie told British media outlet Channel 4, “We thought we’d have to break the world record to win the gold. All the talk has been about breaking the 59-second barrier; we almost broke the 58-second barrier. It’s phenomenal. Then to watch my wife win gold, it was just unreal. Wow, what a day. You never forget this.”
“I’ve never successfully defended a title before so I’m just delighted,” added Lora Fachie, who won two golds at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games including the Women’s B 3000m individual pursuit. “For me, it’s been a childhood dream to be a world record holder and now I am thanks to this one [Corinne Hall].”
Incredibly, the day got even better for Great Britain in the final race of four record-breaking days in the Izu Velodrome when they won the mixed C1-C5 750m team sprint. The quartet of Kadeena Cox, Jaco van Gass, Finlay Graham and Jody Cundy set a world record of 47.579 to edge out China (47.685) by less than a tenth-of-a-second.
For Cox and van Gass, it was their second gold medals of the Tokyo Games; for Cundy and Graham, it added to silver medals they won earlier in the competitions. Spain took bronze.
So, a stunning day for Great Britain, whose three gold medals on Saturday ensured they finished top of the para-cycling track medal table with six gold medals plus a further six silver medals and two bronze medals.
The curtain has come down on the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic track competitions, but there’s plenty more para-cycling to come with four days of road cycling starting from Tuesday 31 August.
Para-cycling sport classes
C – Cyclist: conventional bike with some minor adaptations
T – Tricycle: three-wheeled bike
B – Blind: tandem
H – Handbike
Each group is divided into different sport classes depending on the severity of the handicap