Sarah Storey – Photo Credit: Flickr

Sarah Storey, a British cyclist added to her glorious golden history as wheelchair rugby powerhouses Australia suffered a shock defeat on day one of the delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Paige Greco, won the first gold of the Games, 354 days later than originally envisaged because of the Covid-19 pandemic and a day after a high-energy but poignant opening ceremony. The Australian cyclist was in record-breaking form as she beat Wang Xiaomei of China in the gold medal race in C1-C3 class 3,000m individual pursuit at the Izu Velodrome. She smashed her own world record by nearly eight seconds in the heats and lowered it by another second and a half to 3:50.815s during the final.

“I still can’t believe it. I keep looking down and seeing the gold medal. It’s not really sunk in yet,” said Greco.

Meanwhile, 43-year-old Storey was a step closer to becoming Britain’s greatest Paralympian. She shattered her own world record in the heats before powering to victory in the C5 3,000m individual pursuit final for her 15th Paralympic gold. She took the title for a fourth consecutive Games when she caught compatriot Crystal Lane-Wright inside eight laps of the 12. Storey is just one medal behind the British record held by Mike Kenny, who won 16 swimming golds from 1976 to 1988. “I never expected to go as quickly this morning, but I’m so glad I did,” she said.

Despite a year-long postponement, and with coronavirus fears hanging over the event, 24 gold medals were awarded for swimming and cycling on a pulsating first day of competition.