Paralympics day seven: Another chapter in the compelling Storey story?

Britain’s most successful Paralympian will lead the hunt for more medal glory on day seven in Paris.

Dame Sarah Storey , who is competing in a record ninth Games, has won 17 gold medals across swimming and cycling and starts her campaign for number 18 in the C5 time trial.

Unstoppable Storey?

Storey has opted out of the track programme to concentrate on the road and will be favourite to claim victory in the time trial, an event where she has won gold at every Games since her cycling debut in 2008.

The 46-year-old has been spurred on by the desire to not have her final Games contested in front of no spectators, as was the case in Tokyo due to the Covid pandemic, with two spectators in particular of special significance.

Storey’s children, 10-year-old Louisa and six-year-old Charlie, will be in Paris as their mother attempts to win both the time trial and road race to become the fourth-most successful Paralympian ever in terms of golds.

Only swimmers Trischa Zorn and Beatrice Hess and winter Paralympian Ragnhild Myklebust would have more.

Time for Kinghorn to be the queen?

Scottish wheelchair racer Sammi Kinghorn will be hoping to demonstrate her remarkable range and become the first non-Chinese athlete to win the T53 100m title since Tanni Grey-Thompson triumphed in Athens in 2004.

Kinghorn secured her second silver in the women’s T54 1500 metres on Tuesday, having also finished second in the 800m on Sunday.

“Who would have thought a sprinter would get a medal over 1500m? I certainly did not,” said Kinghorn, who has two World Championship golds to her name in the 100m, including one in Paris last year.

Clegg targets second gold

Stephen Clegg is hunting his second gold of the Games as he goes in men’s 100m S12 freestyle heats in the morning ahead of an early evening final.

Backstroke gold medallist Clegg secured a bronze in this event at Tokyo and has won two World Championship silvers since then.

Poppy Maskill and Louise Fiddes will both be hoping to add to their medal tallies in the women’s 200m individual medley SM14 final, while Alice Tai and Brock Whiston are looking for their second gold in the women’s 400m S8 freestyle.

Rogers leads British one-two

Faye Rogers completed the journey from Olympic hopeful to Paralympic swimming champion by powering to gold in Paris on Tuesday, three years on from the car crash which changed her life.

The 21-year-old edged out team-mate Callie-Ann Warrington to scoop the S10 100m butterfly crown in a British one-two at La Defense Arena.

Rogers took part in Olympic selection trials for Tokyo in 2021 before being told her competitive swimming career was over after suffering several open fractures, a dislocated elbow and a severed ulna in an accident while driving to training.

“Getting into Para swimming has been amazing. It’s honestly been a lifesaver for me,” Rogers said. “I don’t think I’d have coped with the accident and my impairment without being able to swim. I couldn’t be more grateful.”

The top 10

Rogers claimed Great Britain’s only gold of day six, with three silver and three bronze medals taking the total to 61.

China continued to dominate the standings, aided by clean sweeps of the medals in the pool in both the men’s and women’s 50m backstroke S5 finals.