Unwin praises 'amazing' Holl after road race win

Sophie Unwin praised pilot Jenny Holl for her unwavering support as the pair won gold in the women’s road race.

The pair claimed their fourth medal at Paris 2024 as they outsprinted Ireland’s Katie-George Dunlevy to take their second Paralympic gold of the Games by three seconds.

Unwin recognised Holl for always being there for her, including providing her with a sofa when she needed a place to stay.

“We met just before Tokyo, so I feel like that probably brought us much closer together because that whole year,” Holl said.

“2021 was just rollercoaster of ‘Oh my God, you’re starting to ride a tandem, oh my God, you’re going to the Paralympics, wow you got two medals’.

“It’s just been this rush after rush, and I think we get on really well and it makes it so much easier and I’m so grateful for how easy Sophie makes it.”

Ever the double act, Unwin then chimed in: “I don’t think I make it easy. It’s easy to say we win medals all the time and therefore it is easy.

“But Jenny has been there for me at some pretty bad times over the past few years.

“A couple of years ago, I was sleeping on her sofa for a week because I had nowhere else to go.

“She’s been there through a lot for me. Definitely haven’t always been the easiest person to train with, share a room with, race with.”

Unwin explained how her heightened emotions can sometimes make her a difficult training partner.

And the emotion poured out of her after the pair sprinted past their challengers for gold, Dunlevy and her pilot Linda Kelly.

Unwin added: “I’m always emotional, I was surprised it has taken me this long to cry like that.

“It just feels amazing. Jenny was incredible, she rode that race perfectly and it just feels amazing to win it.

“I would say we hoped for four medal, we came in knowing we have medalled in every world championship event this cycle.

“So we knew we could do it, but you never know how other people are going to turn up. Everyone always ups the standard for the Games. It feels amazing to actually manage it.”

Lora Fachie, who is married to Scottish cyclist Neil Fachie, won her third bronze of the Games in the same race,

The pair were dropped by the leaders on the second lap before making their way back into the front group only to be dropped again and finished one minute and 35 seconds down, but comfortably ahead of fourth.

Fachie was overcome with emotion as she reflected on her first Paralympic cycle as a mother, and the first in which she was won three medals in one Games.

The 36-year-old said: “We had to fight for that one. We have never won three medals at a Games, it’s taken three Games to get to three medals at one so maybe at our fourth we’ll get four!

“Three bronzes is a fair representation of where we are at the moment, we couldn’t have done more.

“Both of us would have liked a medal of a different colour but from four races, to come away with three medals, considering how our cycle has gone, it’s a really big achievement.”

Lizzi Jordan came seventh after a mechanical a lap into the race ended her chance of a second medal at her debut Games.

Jordan and her pilot Danni Khan chose to take the positives from their first Paralympic together, which produced a gold in the track time trial.

“You can’t really ride 97k on your own,” Jordan said. “But to be honest, I just thought as I got off actually, we have had the two extremes.

“We’ve won a gold medal and we’ve got a mechanical in the road race and I think it is important, not everything is plain sailing and that is life.

“You can have the glory but not everything goes your way. We live and we learn and we are so lucky to even be here and represent our country, and we don’t want to end on a low but reflect on the fact that we are lucky to be here.”

Chris Latham and Steve Bate did not take to the start line of the men’s B race as illness ruled them out of concluding their Paralympic campaign on Friday, while Blaine Hunt and Archie Atkinson both failed to finish the gruelling course in the men’s C4-5 race earlier in the day.