 "Paris Paralympics 2024: Hunter Woodhall wins 400m T62 event as Sarah Storey wins 19th title of her career")
Hunter Woodhall, the double amputee sprinter who is one half of an Olympic-Paralympic power couple, charged to gold in the T62 400m on Friday while British cyclist Sarah Storey won the 19th title of her remarkable career.
American Woodhall, who is married to Olympic women’s long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall, timed 46.36sec to beat world record holder Johannes Floors of Germany by two metres and then ran straight into the arms of his wife who was trackside in the Stade de France.
It was a reversal of the roles when Davis-Woodhall won Olympic gold in the same stadium on 8 August and joyously embraced her watching husband.
“My first gold in a major championship and I couldn’t pick a better one,” Woodhall told reporters, with his beaming wife standing by his side, both wearing their respective gold medals.
“Tara has taught me a lot,” he said. “Before the Olympics she was writing in her journal ‘I will be the Olympic champ, I am strong, I am fast’. I brought my journal with me and the past few days I’ve been writing in there ‘I will be Paralympic champion’ and that’s come true!”
Storey could go on
Earlier, Storey beat French teenager Heidi Gaugain in an exciting sprint finish to the cycling road race.
It was 46-year-old Storey’s 30th Paralympic medal, earned across two sports and in the nine Paralympic Games she has contested since Barcelona 1992.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsDame Sarah Storey has never lost in cycling at the Paralympics.
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) September 6, 2024
Just let that sink in.
🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇#Paris2024 #Paralympics #IAmLimitless pic.twitter.com/5PlJoZf3Lh
“It’s amazing, really amazing it’s not sunk in at all. I’m delighted my wheel was at the front at the finish,” Storey told reporters.
“It was just a matter of holding her as she continued her acceleration, it was a long way out.
“I’m still nippy for a 46-year-old but I use it wisely,” she added.
Storey refused to rule out competing at her 10th Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
“I need to enjoy this one first, never say never to anything,” she said.
Golden slam
In wheelchair tennis, Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid won gold for Britain in the men’s doubles final, beating Japanese pair Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda 6-2, 6-1 on the clay of Roland Garros.
Reid and Hewett have won 21 Grand Slam titles since starting to play together in 2016, but they were clear the Paralympic title was the one that they wanted the most – and in winning it, they became the first men’s pair to win the “golden slam”.
In other athletics action, double amputee Dutch sprinter Fleur Jong added the T64 women’s 100m gold to the long jump title she won earlier in these Games.
She led home Dutch teammates Kimberly Alkemade and Marlene van Gansewinkel for the first clean sweep by one country of any athletics event at the Paris Games.
“It’s the one I’ve been dreaming of,” Jong said. “The long jump is my love, and the 100m is my biggest challenge, so I really wanted this one.”
Italian swimmer Simone Barlaam, who was born with a congenital condition which resulted in an under-developed right leg, won his second gold in Paris with victory in the men’s 100m butterfly.
Brazil’s Gabrielzinho, one of the faces of these Paralympics after winning three titles, was in action again on Friday but failed to make the final choosing to compete in a different category of handicap.
The Brazilian, who has stumps for arms and atrophied legs, had warned that when he moved into the S3 class, he would struggle.
So it proved as he finished fifth in his 50m freestyle heat and outside the qualifiers for the final.
With two days of competition remaining, China lead the medals table on 83 golds with Great Britain advancing to 42 – surpassing the number of golds they won in Tokyo three years ago — and the USA are third with 31.
The Netherlands are fourth with 24 golds and Italy overtook host nation France to sit fifth on 20 golds.
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