There was a cathartic success for Jody Cundy in the C4/C5 one-kilometre time-trial, four years after the expletive-laden tantrum which changed perceptions of Paralympians. Meanwhile, British gold medal victor Sophie Hahn was snubbed by a teammate who refused to shake her hand after she ran to victory in the 100m.
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Elsewhere, sprinter Libby Clegg, who has a deteriorating eye condition, set a new world record of 11.91 seconds in the T11 100m semi-finals to qualify for the final (at 22:52 BST on Friday).
Dame Sarah Storey’s 12th Paralympic gold was the highlight of an opening day which saw Britain win three of the four events in the velodrome as ParalympicsGB emulated the track dominance of Team GB at last month’s Olympics.
American number one Jarryd Wallace started strongly, but he was unable to match Peacock’s strength and speed, and ended up in fifth place behind South Africa’s Arnu Fourie.
The 27-year-old then went even further in the fourth round, jumping 5.83m – a distance she matched with her sixth and final attempt.
Meanwhile, British gold medal victor Sophie Hahn was snubbed by a teammate who refused to shake her hand after winning the 100m.
The medal rush continued when Ellie Robinson, who is just 15, cruised to S6 50m butterfly gold in her first Games.
Should Cox win a medal at the velodrome she will become the first Briton since Isabel Barr in 1988 to win Paralympic medals in two sports at the same games.
There were three more medals in the pool, alongside Robinson’s gold. Every big race I’ll always have it with me.
“I’m really looking forward to it and I hope to make the history I set out to make”, said the 25-year-old from Leeds, who had a stroke in May 2014.
Robinson won her maiden Paralympic title.
Thornhill and Scott were second at March’s Track World Championships behind Holland’s Larissa Klaassen and her pilot Haliegh Dolman, so were the penultimate bike to take to the track.
“It’s so weird, it’s not sunk in yet”, she shared afterwards. This whole experience doesn’t feel like I’m actually doing it. “I came back just in time”. “It’s going to give me so much confidence going into Tokyo (in 2020)”.
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There was a gold for Jason Smyth – his third in succession – in the T13 100 metres on the athletics track.
