Fin Graham wins road race gold for GB as Paralympics medal flurry continues
Fin Graham has had his fair share of close finishes at these Games. In the velodrome he had to settle for silver after being edged out by his teammate Jaco van Gass in the final of the men’s C3 individual pursuit. In the road time trial on Wednesday fewer than 20 seconds over those 28.3km separated him from a second medal.
But on Saturday he finally came out on the winning side of a close call, taking gold in the men’s C1-3 road race in Clichy-sous-Bois by a whisker from France’s Thomas Peyroton-Dartet.
A breakaway group of Graham, Peyroton-Dartet and his France teammate Alexandre Leaute dominated the race, establishing a safe lead over the field, with the Graham and Peyroton-Dartet eventually shedding Leaute to set up a two-horse race for gold as they entered the final kilometre.
A partisan home crowd roared on Peyroton-Dartet, the time trial champion, into the final straight but it was the rider from Manchester who proved the stronger in the sprint, crossing the line barely a bike’s length ahead of his rival.
“The French made it hard because it was two against one the whole race,” said Graham, who takes home a gold and a silver medal from the Games. “I didn’t really know what their plan was because they were talking in French. I have got world titles and stuff but Paralympic gold, nothing compares to it.”
There was a silver for Daniel Powell in the men’s J1 -90kg judo, the Liverpudlian missing out to Brazil’s Arthur Cavalcante da Silva in the gold medal match.
At the Château de Versailles Sophie Wells won her second bronze of the Games, this one coming in the Grade V individual freestyle event, while Mari Durward-Akhurst took a bronze in the Grade I event and Georgia Wilson silver in the Grade II competition.
At the Stade de France, Britain’s Zach Skinner narrowly missed out on a medal in the men’s T13 long jump. Skinner, the son of former England rugby player Mick Skinner, leapt out to 6.83m, 37cm short of the bronze medallist Paulo Henrique Andrade Dos Reis of Brazil.
This article will be updated throughout the day.
