Great Britain won three gold medals and one silver on a dominant opening day at the velodrome in Rio.

Megan Giglia, Dame Sarah Storey and the tandem duo of Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby won gold as Crystal Lane claimed silver on a day when three gold medals were set and Storey became Britain’s most decorated female Paralympian.

Hi-Storey

If Dame Sarah Storey felt any pressure at the prospect of moving clear of Tanni Grey-Thompson and earning her twelfth gold medal, it didn’t show at any point of competition in the Rio Olympic Velodrome.

In qualification for the C5 3km individual pursuit, her team-mate Crystal Lane had posted the fastest time of 3:48.802 with just Storey to ride.

The reigning Paralympic champion showed her class to smash her own world record, posting a time of 3:31.394 – a huge margin of more than 17 seconds.

That set up a battle of the Brits in the final for the gold – and Storey caught Lane within half of the race distance to win an unprecedented 12th Paralympic gold.

Speaking to Channel 4, Storey said: "It's a bit surreal. The first person I was speaking to after the race was Tanni and it’s so nice to see her here. She’ll always be on a pedestal for me, a lady who has really supported me for all my career.

"(As a girl) I dreamed of pulling on a tracksuit and being able to compete for my country and doing the very best I could and over the course of the last 24 years since that first Games, that lead to these medals. It’s just so surreal.

"I didn’t expect to break the world record this morning, this coming week is really really hard. I just keep improving and I can’t really believe it."

For Crystal Lane, her second Paralympics had come at short notice and she was thrilled to win silver.

“I was only picked about ten days ago so two weeks ago I imagined I’d just be watching Sarah win a gold medal in the final, not competing against her.

“To be part of her history, makes it really special. I had a dream and I never let it go.”

Giglia Gold

Double world champion Megan Giglia made her Paralympic debut in style, breaking her own world record in C1-3 qualification.

Giglia set a time of 4:03.544 to book a ride for gold against Jamie Whitmore, who had briefly held the Paralympic record after qualifying in 4:11.778.

That set up a duel between Great Britain and the USA in the gold medal final – and Giglia made it look easy, catching her opponent just after the halfway mark to win her first ever Paralympic gold medal – a victory that she hadn’t fully expected.

“To be fair, it hasn’t sunk in yet. All I know is I couldn’t be here without my team-mates, the back-up crew behind me, my coach and all my family.

“I just didn’t think I’d make it to Rio, I thought it was ambitious of me but I’d give it a go. The British camp is estatic, we’re hyped up, ready to go.

“I’ve got my main event out of the way so now I can enjoy the rest of it!”

Giglia, who suffered a stroke three years ago, said she would be dedicating each of her races to a young person recovering from a stroke – and showed a picture of Alasdair Rowan after her incredible victory.

Dynamic duo

Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby made it a hat-trick of gold medals with a thrilling win in the B individual pursuit final.

Both riders were making their Paralympic debuts and showed they weren’t overawed by the prospect of competing on the biggest stage in the world – even with one of their opponents setting a world record in qualifying.

Dutch duo Vincent ter Schure and pilot Timo Fransen set a time of 4:09.527, but Bate and Duggleby fought back in the next heat to set a new record in 4:08.146.

That pitted the two fastest B individual pursuit pairs of all time against each other in the final and it was the team from Netherlands that got off quickest.

But from 1km in, the ParalympicsGB riders fought back, crossing the line in 4:08.631 to win the third British gold in the velodrome of the day.

After receiving his gold medal, Bate said: "It’s been fantastic, I’m still trying to catch my breath! It’s hard to back-up a ride like that, but we did it. (Adam) is world class!

"We knew we were coming here in good shape and it was just a case of getting it right on the day and the staff around us have made sure that happened."

Pilot Duggleby added: "It’s the amount of dedication we’ve put into training, we’ve trained really hard. I’ve been riding for 20 years and this is the most I’ve ever done, it’s been so hard. We’ve gone seven seconds faster than we did in the worlds, it’s fantastic."

Results

Women's C1-3 Individual pursuit

Women's C5 Individual pursuit

Men's B Individual pursuit

Gallery