Great Britain’s first cycling medal hope of the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Kadeena Cox, crashed out of her final, before Daphne Schrager and Stephen Bates won GB's first silvers of the games on Thursday.
Cox, a champion at both the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Paralympics, was the fifth rider onto the track in the final of the C4-5 500m time trial, but seemed to wobble away from the start gate and crashed on the first bend. With the issue not deemed to be a mechanical one, she was not allowed to have a second go in the final. She is a four-time gold medallist across athletics and cycling.
Following this, Schrager took to the track for the final of the women's C1-3 individual pursuit. Despite setting a world record for her C2 category, the 23-year-old was always behind Xiaomei Wang of China, a C3 in the final. The latter finished almost two minutes ahead of Schrager.
"It’s incredible," Schrager said on Channel 4 post-race. "A year ago I didn’t think I’d be on a bike again. To come here and break a world record in the process… sadly it wasn’t enough. I’m really happy with the process and winning a medal. I can build on it for the road, and to come away with a medal at all is a privilege. I feel honoured to ride here and am very happy.
"Kad [Kadeena Cox] was one of the people that got me into cycling, and I was close to her throughout the process. I’m gutted for her."
Stephen Bate, a two-time former gold medallist, was beaten along with his pilot Chris Latham by the Dutch team of Tristan Bangma and Patrick Bos in the men's B 4000m individual pursuit final.
Bangma and Bos had beaten Bate and Latham's world record earlier on Thursday, and went close to setting a new one again in the final.
"We had a great day," Bate said on C4. "Our target coming here was to try and put the Dutch under pressure, they’ve been the best for the last three years. They’ve proven today how good they are. We rode a massive PB in both races. I’m probably more disappointed for the staff. I hope they’re proud. Three finals, three medals, you can’t argue with that."
In the bronze final, Lorenzo Bernard of Italy, with his pilot Davide Plebani, took third place.
Earlier, Caroline Groot of the Netherlands won the 500m TT, after setting a world record in qualifying; Cox had qualified second earlier on Thursday. Groot was over a second quickest, in 35.566 seconds, than the rider behind her on the podium, Marie Patouillet of France. Kate O'Brien of Canada finished third.
Cox is due to ride the mixed team sprint event on Sunday, an event she is defending champion in, but it is not known if she suffered an injury in the incident on Thursday. She is also a former Paralympic gold medallist in the 400m in athletics from Rio.
British Cycling posted on X: "Unfortunately, earlier Kadeena Cox was unable to finish her final in the women’s C4-5 500m TT, following a slip out of the start gate and subsequent fall, resulting in a DNF.
"Gutted for you Kadeena, keep your chin up! We can’t wait to see you show what you can do again soon."
In the men's C1 3000m individual pursuit final, which followed, China won both gold and silver, with Zhangyu Li beating his compatrio Weicong Liang in the final. In the bronze final, Ricardo Ten Argiles of Spain beat Pierre Senska to third place.
