Sarah Storey clinched her 15th gold medal at Tokyo 2020 on Wednesday as she extended her incredible Paralympic legacy.
The British cyclist stormed past her compatriot Crystal Lane-Wright in the final of the C5 3,000m individual pursuit after crushing her own world record in the qualification stage.
“It’s quite overwhelming. I don’t know if it will sink in until I get home,” she said after the race.
“I came here with a really solid plan of what I wanted to do and I’ve delivered it, so it kind of blows your mind a bit.
“I talked before about breaking your personal best – in my case a world record – a small margin at a time. And I just knocked 4.3 seconds off.”
Storey was just 14 years-old when she made her Paralympic debut as a swimmer at Barcelona in 1992.
She went on to win five gold medals across four Games before switching to cycling in 2005 and has dominated the velodrome ever since.
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‘It took me by surprise’
The 43-year-old can now boast a total of 26 Paralympic medals and needs just one more gold to draw level with British swimmer Mike Kenny’s national record of 16.
Storey said she was now focused on preparing for the road race competitions in Tokyo – in which she has two chances of winning a medal.
“I’ve done so much training, and everyone’s been reminding me how much work I’ve done and how I deserve to be that fast, but you don’t like to presume,” she added.
“So it took me by surprise, but a good surprise.
“I think about one race at a time and maybe I’ll think about these things afterwards. But it does feel pretty surreal.”
Storey’s gold medal was the first for Great Britain at this year’s Paralympic Games, which is being held without spectators amid the pandemic.
