Paralympics: Track cycling star Storey wins gold

Britain’s athlete finishes ahead of Harkowska.

BRANDS HATCH: Britain’s Sarah Storey clinched her third gold medal of the Games, taking the Paralympic women’s individual C5 time-trial title after double success on the track.

The 34-year-old rider won the C5 individual 3km pursuit in the Velodrome last week to open the host nation’s gold account then followed up with victory in the C4/5 500m time-trial.

But she said the hard work she has put in for the road events has paid off, as she again pushed Poland’s Anna Harkowska into silver, just as she did on the track.

“I spent so much time on the road this year,” said Storey. “The road is where all my preparation has been done, so I needed to nail this one.”

‘No evidence’ for Pistorius blade claims: IPC

Meanwhile, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said that there was no substance to allegations from sprint star Oscar Pistorius about the length of his rivals’ artificial running blades.

“There is no evidence that any athlete competed on different size running blades,” said IPC media and communications director Craig Spence. “Unless the South Africans can come to us with some evidence, it’s something that we won’t continue investigating.”

Spence said that South Africa had made a complaint raising Pistorius’ claims he was at a disadvantage in the T44 200m final because other runners were ‘a lot taller’ and he could not compete with their stride length.

Pistorius’ defeat to Brazil’s Alan Oliveira was his first defeat in a 200m in nine years and means he will now not retain the three sprint titles he won in Beijing.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2012.