Share

Jon-allan butterworth ‘hopes to inspire’ with paralympics cycling gold

Butterworth had previously said that winning a gold medal at Rio “would be really nice to finish off that collection” he started four years ago, where one of his silvers came in a time trial that saw him pipped to gold by fractions of a second.

Advertisement

Firth won her second gold of the Rio Games by beating defending champion Jessica-Jane Applegate to silver in the S14 200m freestyle.

A third straight gold in the class was assured for Pascoe halfway through the race with a four second advantage at the 100m which extended to six seconds by the end.

Neil Fachie and Peter Mitchell also won a silver medal in the tandem one-kilometre time-trial to take Paralympics GB’s overall tally to 4, with more expected to come later on Sunday on what is the final day of track cycling action.

Great Britain won the gold, while New Zealand’s newest tandem pairing of Amanda Cameron and Hannah van Kampen finished fourth.

Nigeria’s performance so far at the Paralympics means that they are now the highest-ranked nation in sub-Saharan Africa, positioned 12th in the overall medals table between New Zealand in 11th and Mexico in 13th.

Butterworth claimed three silver medals at London 2012 and his gold as part of the team success was significant for British service personnel injured in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley also took gold in the double sculls event, while the mixed coxed four team were also victorious on the water.

It was Morris’ second Paralympic gold, eight years after her cycling time-trial triumph in Beijing.

Ejike, who was the country’s flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, is the third Nigerian to win gold, joined by Roland Ezuruike and Paul Kehinde.

Advertisement

Nelson-born Liam Malone set himself up as one of the favourites to win the final of the men’s 200m T44, qualifying fastest in 21.33sec, almost a second quicker than his previous personal best.

Sophie Pascoe