Dame Sarah Storey wins remarkable 18th Paralympic gold in C5 time trial

Dame Sarah Storey added another gold medal to her impressive collection on Wednesday morning. She won her 18th Paralympic title in the women's C5 time trial event, making her a champion at nine Paralympic Games. However, she criticized the organizers for designing a course that was only half the length of the men's course.

Storey came out victorious in the time trial, finishing 4.69 seconds ahead of Heidi Gaugain from France. She was trailing by seven seconds at the first checkpoint, which was at the 5.8km mark. However, this was the only checkpoint in the entire course, which was only 14.2km in total. This distance was half of what the male athletes would be completing later in the day.

"This Paralympic time trial was the quickest one we've seen, and I believe it's disappointing because we didn't have the opportunity to fully display parasport as we would have liked," she stated post-race. "I'm thrilled and ecstatic about my performance, but I acknowledge that there's always room for improvement."

We have enough time during the day to complete two laps just like the men. It is disappointing to have fought for equality in women's cycling and not see the same progress in para-cycling, especially after the success we had in Glasgow last year at the world championships.

Storey mentioned that athletes had sent in submissions to the organizers before the Games regarding the course's length, but they had not been given a reason for the decision that was made.

This marks the fifth consecutive Games where Storey has claimed the time trial championship. The short distance of the course seemed to benefit her, as she easily outperformed her competitors during the two challenging climbs towards the end of the race.

"I've always been strong," she explained. "That's why I knew that the uphill sections would be very important to truly test your limits and push yourself to the max. In a 20-minute race, there's no time for rest. It's basically like a 10-minute hilly race."

I have done a lot of training at home, so I have had plenty of opportunities to practice. However, at championships, you usually have to race at least 22km, which is what we have done in all the previous Paralympic Games. Looking back at the amazing courses in Beijing, Brands Hatch, and the enthusiastic fans in Rio, even though it was a flat course, it was longer. In Tokyo, we raced on the motor circuit with no spectators, but it was still a challenge with three laps. This disappoints me the most when compared to the previous games. I hope this situation does not occur again in the future.

The event organizers decided to have some races at a shorter distance because there were already 19 races scheduled for Wednesday, along with medal ceremonies.

In the time trial event for women with disabilities in categories C1-3, Frances Brown from Britain won the second-place silver medal, coming in behind Maike Hausberger from Germany.