Trio of Kenny, Cundy and Bristow complete Britain's dominance of Beijing velodrome with 12th success

Published on Wednesday 10 September 2008 23:39

THE men's sprint team capped a spectacular Paralympics track cycling performance by Great Britain with a third gold of the day and a 12th in all at the Laoshan Velodrome in Beijing.

The final day on the track capped a spectacular performance with 12 British golds and one silver won in all.

It was fitting Britain completed their Laoshan Velodrome haul with victory in the men's team sprint, with Darren Kenny, Jody Cundy and Mark Bristow emulating their Olympic counterparts Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff, who began the gold rush on 15 August. Sarah Storey and Anthony Kappes – with Storey's husband Barney as his tandem pilot – also triumphed.

Kenny, Cundy and Bristow defeated hosts China in the team sprint final. The trio won in 49.323 seconds.

Britain won all bar one event in which they were involved as the Union flag remained flying high at the velodrome following last month's Olympics Games where the team won seven out of ten titles.

The team sprint win took Britain three clear of China at the top of the medal table with 19 gold medals in all.

Former swimmer Storey was Britain's first champion on the final day of track cycling. The 30-year-old from Manchester was competing in her fifth Games but first on the bike having switched from the pool. Storey won the women's LC1-2/CP4 individual pursuit in a world record of three minutes 36.637 seconds.

American Jennifer Schuble was second, while China's Dong Jingping won bronze.

Storey made her Paralympic debut in Barcelona aged 14, winning two gold medals, three silvers and one bronze in the pool under her maiden name Bailey.

Going into these Games, Storey knew even if she lowered her own world mark of 3mins 48.622secs it may not be enough. Her LC1 category (for athletes having minor or no lower limb disability) was combined with two other categories, meaning the final positions would be determined by a factoring system based on world records.

Despite taking eight seconds off her own world best, she qualified second fastest for the final behind Schuble, who set a world record for her class of 4:01.243. But Storey went even faster in the final, lowering the mark by a further four seconds.

Storey's husband Barney then clinched his second gold medal of the Games alongside partially sighted Kappes in the B&VI 1-3 sprint. The duo clocked 10.758secs in the first sprint and 11.524 in the second to beat their Australian counterparts 2-0 in the cat-and-mouse final. Kappes, from Stockport, and Storey also won the men's B&VI 1-3 one- kilometre time-trial on Monday.

Dorset rider Kenny, who has cerebral palsy, won his third gold of the track programme – he could win two more on the road – in the team sprint alongside Cundy and Bristow, who each won their second titles.