Paralympics 2024: Paralympic Cycling Champion Amanda Reid and others Retain Titles At Paris 2024 Games

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Four Paralympic titles were awarded on the third day of the para-cycling track programme at the National Velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The winners in the Men's C1-3 time trial, Men's C4 and C5 individual pursuits, and Women's C1-3 time trial all retained their titles from the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Zhangyu Li secured his second gold medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and his sixth career gold by winning the C1-3 1000m time trial. Li's time of 1'03"480 edged out fellow Chinese cyclist Weicong Liang, who finished with a silver in 1'04"103. France's Alexandre Léauté took bronze with a time of 1'04"207, also breaking his own C2 1000m time trial world record set earlier that morning.

Men's Individual Pursuits

France's Dorian Foulon triumphed in the men's C5 4000m individual pursuit with a time of 4'16"169, averaging a speed of 56.213km/hr. This victory marks his second consecutive C5 title after his win in Tokyo. Ukraine's Yehor Dementyev, a three-time Paralympic gold medallist, claimed silver with a time of 4'17"785, while Elouan Gardon from the USA earned bronze.

In an unexpected turn of events, Slovakia's Jozef Metelka retained his men's C4 4000m individual pursuit title under dramatic circumstances. Great Britain's Archie Atkinson, who had broken the world record earlier that morning with a time of 4'17"70, fell off his bike while leading by five seconds with around 300m to go. France's Gatien le Rousseau defeated compatriot Kévin le Cunff for bronze.

Women's Time Trial

Australia's Amanda Reid successfully defended her title in the women's C1-C3 500m time trial. The 27-year-old clocked in at 36"676 to win gold ahead of China's Wangwei Qian, who had a factored time of 37"616 and added silver to her bronze from Tokyo. Qian also set a new C1 world record with her real-time of 40"878 during the morning qualifiers.

"The last 12 months have been hard so to win back-to-back titles is amazing," Reid said. "I tried not to think about the race too much and just go for it." Her victory continues her dominance in this category, having won her fifth consecutive UCI World title at the 2024 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio.

Para-cycling Sport Classes

The para-cycling sport classes on the track include:

• C – Cycle: Conventional bike with adaptations if necessary
• B – Tandem: For visually impaired athletes with sighted pilot

The classification within Group C is based on impairment levels; lower numbers indicate higher levels of impairment.

Li has become one of para-cycling’s legends since winning his first Paralympic gold in London 2012 in the men's C1-C3 1000m time trial. He followed this with two golds in Rio and another in Tokyo. Additionally, he holds two Paralympic silver medals and one bronze.

"I didn't expect that in a million years," said Metelka about Atkinson’s fall. "I see Archie is on the ground and think, not good [for Archie]. I first think [winning like that is] not great but I then think, 'yes!'”

The seven-time UCI World Champion Foulon is now aiming for more success as he looks forward to Wednesday’s road race and hopes for another podium finish in the time trial.

Thirty-six-year-old Li, who has cerebral palsy, was trailing Liang until the final lap when he surged ahead by taking off six-tenths of a second for an impressive gold medal finish.

In Thursday’s event, Li broke the world record and won China’s first gold medal at these Games by defeating Liang in the final of the C1 3000m individual pursuit.

"I was really hurting after eight laps and I knew it was down to one second," Foulon said. "So it was really down to mental strength." He added that he drew strength from hearing the crowd cheer him on.