Double Delight As Kadeena Cox Follows Athletics Medal With Cycling Gold In Rio

Double Delight As Kadeena Cox Follows Athletics Medal With Cycling Gold In Rio

Kadeena Cox has become the first Briton in 28 years to win medals in two sports at the same Paralympics after winning a sensational cycling gold for ParalympicsGB in Rio.

The 25-year-old from Leeds was overcome with emotion after defying the doubters to take first place in the women's C4/C5 500 metres time trial on Saturday.

The win came 24 hours after she took bronze in athletics and two years after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

It was one of three gold medals for Britain on day three of the Games as ParalympicsGB's tally moved to 35, 15 of them gold.

Andy Lewis won PT2 triathlon gold as the sport made its Paralympic debut at Copacabana beach, while Hannah Cockroft's T34 100m gold was one of four British athletics medals in six minutes at the Olympic Stadium.

But the day's British highlight was Cox, who claimed T38 100m bronze on the athletics track on Friday night and emulated Isabel Barr's success from 1988 in Seoul.

Cox was tearful on the podium, recalling her two-year journey from stroke symptoms in May 2014 which were later diagnosed as MS, a progressive disease which made her determined to compete in two sports in Rio.

"I'm just so happy that I've finally done it and I've got so far. This time two years ago I was at home, about to go into hospital to get my MS diagnosis," she said.

"To have come this far in such a short period of time is just a relief. I'm glad that I've done it.

"A lot of people thought I wouldn't be able to and there were moments when I doubted myself. But I knew when the classification got changed it was going to be the point where I worked my hardest.

"I absolutely dug in and gave it everything. I knew on my day I'd be good enough to beat anyone and I've done it."

World champion Cox won gold in a world record of 35.716 seconds.

The event was factored in her favour, so her time was rounded down to 34.598 seconds, but she was quicker than everyone else regardless.

Dame Sarah Storey was the defending champion but fully expected Cox – with the factor in her favour – to beat her.

Dame Sarah, who won her 12th Paralympic title on Thursday and will target two more on the road next week, switched from swimming to cycling in 2005, She eventually finished fourth on Saturday, with Crystal Lane fifth.

Of Cox, she said: "At first I thought it wouldn't be possible. Hats off, it's been possible and she's done a great job."

British Cycling's para-cycling head coach Jon Norfolk paid tribute to Cox, who juggled cycling sessions in Manchester with athletics sessions in Leeds.

"It was always going to be a big challenge, but we're all about big challenges," Norfolk said.

"She's one of these athletes you put on the start line and walk away and you know she'll deliver. She's a race-day deliverer."

So is wheelchair racer Cockroft, who claimed her third Paralympic title and first of the Rio Games in a Paralympic record time of 17.42 seconds. Kare Adenegan, 15, from Coventry, took silver.

In the following final, the T33 100m, Toby Gold took silver and Andrew Small bronze.

Sabrina Fortune earlier claimed bronze in the F20 shot put as the track and field squad claimed five medals on the day.

World champion Lewis, a lower leg amputee after he had a motorbike accident at the age of 16, earlier claimed Britain's 13th gold medal and the first of day three.

Swimmer Alice Tai claimed Britain's eighth medal of the day, with bronze in the S10 100m backstroke.

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