Sarah Storey opened Great Britain Cycling Team’s medal account at the 2014 UCI Para-cycling Track Championships in Mexico with a bronze medal in the C5 500 metre time-trial.
With temperatures hitting 41 degrees celsius in the Aguascalientes velodrome, Storey posted a time of 37.154, good enough for bronze, with gold going to Ju Fang Zhou of China, with a new world record time of 36.379, while USA’s Jennifer Schuble took silver. Great Britain’s Crystal Lane was fourth, four-tenths of a second behind Storey.
The medal marks Storey's return to top level track cycling following the birth of her daughter Louisa in June 2013. Storey has been training at Manchester Metropolitan University's environment chamber to prepare for the physiological demands of the Mexico venue, over 1800 metres above sea level.
Following her ride, the 11-time Paralympic gold medallist tweeted: "Chuffed to win bronze in 500m TT this afternoon,less than 0.2 slower than London! & less than 0.1 off silver! World Record from Zhou to win!"
Lora Turnham, piloted by Corinne Hall, finished fourth in the tandem B 3km pursuit, with New Zealand’s Emma Foy and Laura Fairweather beating their teammates Phillipa Gray and Kylie Young to the gold. Japan’s Yurie Kanuma and Mai Tanaka took bronze.
Following the ride, Great Britain para-cycling lead coach Jon Norfolk tweeted: "Mixed fortunes for @CrystallLane and tandem pursuit pairing @Corrinehall and Lora Turnham with two 4th places. Back to fight another day!"
Pilot Hall herself tweeted: "We gave it our all today but it just wasn't to be! I suppose 4th isn't too bad in the worlds!"
Action continues on day two with the pursuit for C1 to C5 men and the tandem B one-kilometre time-trial for men and women.
