Paralympics: Sarah Storey wins Britain's first gold medal in London - BBC News

2012 Paralympics

• Date: Wednesday, 29 August to Sunday 9 September

Coverage: Extensive daily coverage across 5 live, 5 live sports extra and the BBC Sport website

Great Britain have won their first gold medal on day one of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Track cyclist Sarah Storey cruised to victory in the women's C5 individual pursuit, after breaking her own world record in Thursday's heats.

Great Britain's medals

Gold: Sarah Storey (cycling individual pursuit)

Silver: Mark Colbourne (cycling 1km timetrial), Nyree Kindred (swimming 100m backstroke), Hannah Russell (swimming 400m freestyle)

Bronze: Ben Quilter (judo -60kg)

Storey's success came shortly after Mark Colbourne clinched silver in the men's individual 1km time trial.

Day one also saw British swimmer Nyree Kindred win silver in the women's S6 100m backstroke.

She was closely followed onto the podium by 16-year-old Hannah Russell who, in making her debut at a Games, also took away a silver in the women's S12 400m freestyle.

Elsewhere, Britain's double world judo champion Ben Quilter won a bronze medal after beating Japan's Takaaki Hirai in the men's -60kg judo.

Two of Britain's biggest hopes, shooter Di Coates, 58, and cyclist Darren Kenny, 42, missed out on medals.

ParalympicGB chiefs are targeting a record haul of 103 medals and second place in the overall table.

And the home nation celebrated winning their first two medals of the Games in quick succession through Storey and Paralympic debutant Colbourne in the Velodrome.

Analysis

On day one of Paralympic sport, organisers want to keep the focus on the action and not any issues around it.

One focus is on explaining lesser-known sports such as boccia to an audience enthused by British success, but unfamiliar with the Paralympics. Videos and A-Zs are being rolled out.

Some empty seats are expected, largely due to the nature of day passes that allow spectators to dip in and out of various sports at one venue.

Similarly, crowd problems are anticipated at events in which the host nation is competing - a queuing system will be in place for those.

But as with the Olympics, there's a sense that once home medals start being won, the sport will over-ride any logistical grumbles.

Storey, 34, tore into the gap separating her from opponent Anna Harkowska and passed the Pole just after halfway in their 3km run-off.

But the defending champion insisted victory was not as easy as it looked.

"Mentally you have to prepare properly," she said afterwards. "I have to respect all my competitors.

"I didn't expect to catch her as quick as I did, but I stepped up my game. I just thought I had to get there quick and you're just willing the rider to come to you as quick as possible so you can just finish."

Earlier, Storey qualified for the final in a time of three minutes 32.170 seconds - more than a second better than her own 2009 world record.

Colbourne, 42, only started para-cycling in 2009 after breaking his back in a paragliding accident  a few months earlier.

But he recorded a time of one minute 8.471 seconds to edge team-mate Kenny, a multiple world and Paralympic champion, out of the top three.

"I've worked for the last eight months towards this," said Colbourne. "A big thanks goes to all the coaches for getting me into the best shape possible."

Kindred, who has won nine medals in three Paralympics, was aiming to regain the title she lost at Beijing in 2008.

Jonathan Fox celebrates breaking the men's S7 100m backstroke world record

She set a Paralympic record of one minute 27.96 seconds in her heat, but saw China's Dong Lu beat the time in the final to consign her to silver.

Current world champion Jonathan Fox beat his own world-best time in the men's S7 100m backstroke at the Aquatics Centre. The Beijing silver medallist won his heat in one minute 9.86 seconds to qualify for Thursday's final (18:52 BST).

"I've been in good shape for the last couple of months so wanted to put it all together for London," Fox told BBC Radio 5 live.

"After coming second in Beijing, I wanted to go one higher. I think my time has come to win the gold medal."

Britain's double world judo champion Ben Quilter won a bronze medal after beating Japan's Takaaki Hirai in the men's -60kg judo.

In front of a loud crowd at a packed ExCel, 30-year-old Quilter, who is visually impaired, held his opponent down for ippon.

Quilter, from Brighton, was defeated by defending champion Mouloud Noura in his opening contest, ending his hopes of gold.

But there was disappointment for shooter Coates, who was competing in a joint-record eighth Games, at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

A poor last round saw her finish on 389 points in ninth place, with only the top eight progressing to Thursday's final. China's Cuiping Zhang won the first of the day's 28 available gold medals.

Paralympic legend Natalie du Toit, who has won 10 swimming golds, is one of the biggest names to feature on day one. The South African comfortably progressed to the S9 100m butterfly final (19:30 BST) and is the strong favourite to clinch a third consecutive gold in the event.

The Queen declared the Paralympics officially open during Wednesday's spectacular opening ceremony watched by some 80,000 spectators.

About 4,200 athletes from 164 countries, including 300 from the home nation, will compete in 21 sports across the next 11 days.