Rio Paralympics: Yorkshire trio help GB surpass London's golden figures

Dame Sarah Storey and Cockroft claimed their second wins in Rio.

ParalympicsGB ended Tuesday’s sixth day of competition with 34 gold medals, equalling the haul from the 11 days of competition four years ago in London.

And Storey delivered the 35th with victory in the C5 road time-trial on Wednesday morning.

Wheelchair racer Cockroft won the 40th, adding the T34 400 metres title to the 100m crown she had already won.

Cockroft triumphed in a world record of 58.78 seconds, while her 15-year-old team-mate Kare Adenegan finished third for her second medal of the Paralympics.

Cockroft’s triumph came despite a mishap with her racing chair.

“We took the chair back on the bus - I’ve been doing some training in the village - and unfortunately the bus driver fell over it,” she said.

“He bent my forks and my wheel, the wrong way, so I would’ve gone the wrong way round the track.

“Anything like that totally panics me. I have ideas how to fix a chair, but when it’s the morning of a race, it completely throws you.

“But I’ve got fantastic team-mate in Rich Chiassaro. He keeps level headed. And fixing things calms his nerves; he’s racing again tonight. It’s down to me when he does well.”

Kadeena Cox earlier claimed her second gold, in a second sport.

The 25-year-old from Leeds won the C4/C5 500m time-trial on the cycling track ahead of Storey and added T38 400m gold on the athletics track on Wednesday.

She is the first Briton in 32 years to win gold medals in two sports at one Games.

There were two more cycling gold medals in Wednesday’s time-trials for Britain, for Halifax’s Karen Darke in the H1-2-3 event and Steve Bate and his pilot Adam Duggleby in the tandem.

Lora Turnham and Corrine Hall finished with bronze in the corresponding women’s event, while David Stone finished with bronze on his trike in the T1-2 event.

Ireland won two gold medals in the road time-trials, to move to four golds.

The women’s tandem time-trial was won by Ireland’s Katie Dunlevy and her pilot Evelyn McCrystal in 38:59.22 and Eoghan Clifford won the men’s C3 event in 38:21.79.

Colin Lynch claimed silver for Ireland in the men’s C2 road time-trial.

Equestrian could be lucrative ground for Britain and Sophie Wells claimed gold.

Wells, on her horse Valerius, won the grade IV individual championship test.

Ten-time Paralympic champion Lee Pearson had to settle for silver in the grade Ib event.

Claire Cashmore took silver in the SB8 100m breaststroke in the swimming pool, and Maria Lyle took bronze in the T35 100m on the athletics track, as Britain’s total medal haul climbed to 87.

Cox, who was third in the T38 100m, won over 400m at the Olympic Stadium.

“I just ran my heart out,” said Cox, who is new to the one-lap event.

“I’m scared of 400m, I went out there thinking, ‘I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to do this’.

“I know I’m getting stronger and better at them so hopefully that can be my thing.”

She clocked a world record of 1:00.71, beating the mark set by Russia’s Margarita Goncharova in winning the European title in Italy in June. Russia is banned from the Rio Paralympics for state-sponsored doping.

Cox was reclassified in both cycling and athletics earlier this year, but could claim another medal in Thursday’s T35-T38 4x100m relay.

She is also entered into Saturday’s C4/C5 road race with Storey, but that is to fulfil entry requirements in cycling. Cox has never ridden a road race before.

“It’s a dream come true - I came out here to win a certain amount of medals and that changed,” Cox added.

“Now I feel like I’m going back to my initial aim, so to be here getting medals, every one is a bonus. I’m enjoying every minute of it.”

Storey’s only defeat in the last two Paralympics came when Cox won her first gold on Saturday.

Storey’s gold was the first of Wednesday and there was another at Pontal as Karen Darke - from Mytholmroyd near Hebden Bridge - won the H1-2-3 road time-trial, upgrading the silver she won four years ago in London.

The 45-year-old, who fell off a cliff while climbing aged 21, overcame a slipped chain to triumph.

“I’ve been so close on so many occasions, but this time I did it,” said Darke, who is known for undertaking adventure expeditions like cycling from Tibet to Nepal.

“The Paralympic gold medal is the top of the arrow.”

Equestrian could be lucrative ground for Britain and Sophie Wells claimed gold.

Wells, on her horse Valerius, won the grade IV individual championship test.

The 26-year-old, who took team gold in London plus two silvers, posted a score of 74.857.

“I’ve been crying a lot, it feels pretty good,” she said.

“To be Paralympic champion is amazing. My aim was individual gold in London and that got away from me.

“When you’ve not got something, you want it even more and work so hard for it.

“He was brilliant. He’s such a talented horse, he knew what he had to do and I’m really proud of him.

“It’s a massive journey - it isn’t just four years, it isn’t just this week, it’s years and years of work.

“You have your hard times but these times make up for it.

“I didn’t really realise until this morning that it was our first medal-winning opportunity (in equestrian) so to go out and do that, it’s just amazing.”