Storey scribes another chapter at World Championships

Dame Sarah Storey took her Para-cycling Track World Championships gold tally to 15 but insists she’ll keep fighting for every inch, all the way to Tokyo.

Britain’s most successful female Paralympian pulled off a sensational individual pursuit and scratch race double at the global gathering in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.

Storey, who clocked 3:37.497 in WC5 pursuit qualifying, took great encouragement from her performances – while maintaining she won’t take anything for granted before the Paralympics.

“I was excited to see how quick I could go back in competition – I raced in Apeldoorn four years ago, so the same time from Rio as we are from Tokyo now, and did a 3:39, so I was really pleased to post a 3:37,” she said.

“I felt really good in the start gate ahead of the final – really snappy – and I wanted to see if I could catch her and how quickly that could happen.

“I’m in a really positive frame of mind looking ahead to Tokyo – there’s a lot more depth in the C5 category so I’m obviously delighted to still be at the top of that field.

“There are more and more riders coming in, which makes the fight for places really hard.

“I’m excited to keep pushing forward though – there will be no complacency from me; I’m going to keep working hard.”

Such was Storey’s dominance that she caught Poland’s Anna Harkowska in the pursuit final midway through the 3km race.

And her superiority was unbridled in the day’s final event, lapping the field twice after a joint attack with Crystal Lane-Wright, securing overall omnium victory.

It was a highly successful day for British Cycling as Sophie Thornhill and Helen Scott retained their women’s kilo tandem sprint title.

The world, Commonwealth and Paralympic champions cleaned up with a time of 1:05.612 seconds.

“We’re chuffed to bits,” said Thornhill.

That was the third fastest we’ve ever gone, and you can’t complain with that – it’s great to do it at a world championships and so close to Tokyo as well.”

The third gold came from James Ball and Pete Mitchell, recovering from a mechanical to pip Neil Fachie and Matt Rotherham to tandem glory.

Ball said: “Since the Commonwealth Games we’ve just progressed and progressed, and I’m looking forward now to seeing what else we can do.”

Imagery: SW Pix