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Amanda Reid has overcome a difficult preparation to successfully defend her Paralympic Games title with a commanding performance in the C1-3 500m time trial at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, south-west of Paris.
In Tokyo the proud Wemba Wemba and Guring-gai woman became the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman to win a cycling medal at the Paralympic Games and today she went back-to-back to add a second gold to her collection.
“That was absolutely amazing considering the last 12-plus months I’ve had,” Reid said of her struggle with back injury and personal challenges.
“I just came in to go as fast as I could, and this gold medal just means everything. It means it’s all worth it, everything, all the mountains I had to climb to get here.”
Reid was the clear favourite going into the event, something she didn’t dwell on.
“I tried not to think about the pressure I just came in going, ‘It will be what it will be’ and it just happened I went back-to-back gold, which blows my mind.”
Whilst her times in the two rounds didn’t threaten the world record of 38.162 that she set at the world championships in Glasgow last year, she was far too strong for her rivals clocking 38.811 in her C2 class which when factored down gave her a final time of 36.676. That put her more than a second clear of Wangwei Qian of China, a C1 rider who claimed silver and Germany’s C2 cyclist, Maike Hausberger, who took home bronze in 38.358.
The 27-year-old is a six-time world champion in the C2 500m event and last year she claimed a Para-snowboarding world title in the snowboard cross SB-LL1 in La Molina.
Watching on from the stands was her maternal grandmother, Christine, who uses a wheelchair and is affectionally known as ‘Granny Wheels’, as Reid calls her.
“It’s so cool that she was actually able to come out with all her health conditions and make it over here,” Reid said.
“She has a few medical conditions that go along with her Indigenous heritage, so for her to come here was a big thing.”
Also in action today was Gordon Allan who posted a personal best time in the C1-3 1000m time trial. Allan, the bronze medallist in the C2 event at the word championships in Rio in March, rode a time of 1:09.403 in qualifying factored down to 1:05.586 but in a hotly contested combined event his slightly slower time in the final of 1:09.803 (1:05.964) put him in fifth place and outside the medals.
“It was a big day but I’m pretty happy with how things turned out,” said Gordon.
“The PB was really nice to see and then I rode my fastest ever second ride to back up in the final and really that’s all you can do in the end.”
He’ll now focus on his role as lead rider for the team sprint in Sunday’s final day of track cycling action.
“I’ll be the starter, and then we’ve got Al (Alistair Donohoe C5) in the middle and big Korey (Boddington C4) to bring it home,” he said.
“We’ve had a few good runs in training and on the boards here, and while you never know what happens on race day, whenever you put the skin suit on, and especially with teammates, it’s always a bit of fun and we’ll just rip in and give it a crack.”
Back in action on Sunday is Kane Perris and pilot Luke Zaccaria who’ll line up in their target event, the B 1000m time trial while Alana Forster will be in action in the C5 3000m individual pursuit. Sprint tandem Jess Gallagher and pilot Caitlin Ward, who won silver in the 1000m time trial event on Friday will be on the boards for the individual pursuit, but as sprint specialists, are not expected to feature in the medals for the endurance event.
By: Gennie Sheer, Paralympics Australia
Published: 1 September 2024
