Paralympics day 4: Kappes & MacLean take sprint gold as GB top track medal table

Great Britain’s Paralympic cylists added a fifth gold medal to their haul on the final day of competition at the Velodrome to top the medal table on the final day of competition there, with Anthony Kappes, piloted by Craig MacLean, beating fellow Britons Neil Fachie and Barney Storey 2-0 in the individual B sprint final.

Their victory came 24 hours after the disappointment of a second broken chain, following a restart after a similar incident, meant they were unable to post a time in the Kilo, an event won by Fachie and Storey.

Today, Kappes and MacLean were dominant throughout the competition, setting a world record time in qualifying of 10.050 seconds for the flying lap.

“You don't get many opportunities,” Kappes reflected after today’s victory. “Yesterday we blew it; it was not our fault, still we blew it nonetheless.

“Today was a chance to demonstrate what we can do and I can't complain.”

MacLean, winner of an Olympic silver medal in the team sprint at Sydney in 2000 alongside Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Queally, added: “It would've been nice to be celebrating the double, but I suppose we've redeemed ourselves a little bit. It's always nice to win.”

Like Great Britain, China finished the four days of track action with five gold medals, the hosts topping the medal table by virtue of also having won seven silver medals and three bronze.

One of those British silvers came in the mixed C1 to 5 team sprint final, where China’s Liu Xinyang, Ji Xiaofei and Xie Hao set a world record of 49.454, with the Great Britain trio of Darren Kenny, Rik Waddon and Jon-Allan Butterworth also beating the previous benchmark with a time of 49.519.

The women's Individual B Pursuit saw New Zealand's Phillipa Gray and Laura Thompson easily beat world champions Catherine Walsh and Francine Meehan of Ireland in the final.

Both Great Britain pairings in that event made the bronze medal race, with Aileen McGlynn, piloted by Helen Scott, beating Lora Turnham and Fiona Duncan.

That’s it for the track cycling but there’s a lot more action to come as the competition switches to road cycling at the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in Kent from Wedesday with 32 gold medals to be won.