Lady Sarah Storey continued her historic quest for gold on Wednesday morning by winning the women’s C5 time trial title to claim her 18th victory at nine Paralympic Games, but she slammed organizers The track created is only half the length of the men’s time trial.
Storey led France’s Heidi Gaugain by 4.69 seconds in the time trial and was seven seconds behind at the initial checkpoint at 5.8 kilometers. But it was the only inspection on the entire course, which was only 14.2 kilometers long, half the length of the race completed by male athletes later in the day.
“It’s the shortest Paralympic time trial we’ve ever had and I think that’s a real shame because you don’t get to showcase Paralympic sport the way you want to,” she said after the race. “I’m happy. I’m ecstatic. But I know there are always ways to improve things.
“There’s enough time in the day for us to run two laps like men. After the race in Glasgow we fought for equality in women’s cycling but not in para cycling [at the world championships] Last year, it was such a disappointment.
Storey said submissions had been made to organizers ahead of the Games regarding the timing of the full course, but athletes had yet to receive an explanation as to why the decision had been made.
It was Storey’s fifth consecutive time trial win, and the simplicity of the track seemed to work in her favor as she beat her rivals on two climbs in the second half of the course.
“I’ve always been strong,” she said. “So I know climbing is really important to make sure you’re really in the rivet and pushing as hard as you can. In a 20-minute race, you don’t really have to recover. So, yeah, that’s something if you want to It’s a hilly 10 miles.
“We do a lot of that at home so I have a lot of opportunities to practice. But at the championships you’re expected to run at least 22 kilometers and I think that’s what we do at all the other Paralympics. You look back That’s an incredible course in Beijing, Brands Hatch and all the fans in Rio, even though it’s flat, it’s longer. Then there’s Tokyo where we have the car circuit but there’s no one there but we run there. Three laps in and it was a real challenge. So I think in that sense it was the most disappointing after what happened before. I hope this doesn’t happen again.
It is understood that since there are 19 races on Wednesday in addition to the awards ceremony, the organizers have chosen to hold some shorter time trials.
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In the women’s C1-3 time trial, Britain’s Frances Brown won the silver medal behind Germany’s Maike Hausberger.
