CYCLISTS Katie George Dunleavy and Linda Kelly delivered Team Ireland’s first gold medals of the Paris Paralympic Games, nabbing first place of the Women’s B Individual time trial on Wednesday afternoon.
Finishing in a time of 38:16.58, the pair had more than one minute and 20 seconds to spare on the rest of the racers as 42-year-old Dunlevy claimed her third Paralympic gold on the trot in this event, piloted by Kelly.
The closest challengers to Team Ireland were Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl and the British pair had denied Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal gold in Sunday’s track individual pursuit.
Dunlevy was also the B individual time-trial Paralympic champion in both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021 when McCrystal was her partner on the bike, and she retained her crown in Paris.
It was Kelly’s first medal, while McCrystal, who partnered up with Josephine Healion, raced in the same event and the pair finished in fifth place with a time of 41:57.61.
“I wanted to retain the title, so I had a bit of pressure on myself going into it,” Dunleavy said after the race. “I’m so proud of us both to do that but it’s three times retaining that title, I think it’s going to take a while for it to sink in.”
Richael Timothy took 12th position in the Women’s C1-3 Individual Time Trial on Wednesday morning, finishing in a time of 24.32.40 while Ronan Grimes earned 8th place in the C4 Individual Time Trial.
Shauna Bocquet missed out on a place in the T54 100m Heat final in her last race at the Paris Paralympic Games. It was Bocquet’s first time at the games and she came agonisingly close to the final, missing out by just .10 seconds.