Distraught Kadeena Cox crashes out of first gold-medal final of Paralympics

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Kadeena Cox was inconsolable and cited “a rubbish year” after a disastrous start to her Paralympic campaign, with the multi-Games medallist losing balance and collapsing sideways on the first corner of the women’s C4-5 500m time-trial final.

“I literally only got back on the bike two weeks ago, I was in a boot four weeks ago,” Cox told Channel 4 an hour after the fall.

“It’s just been a really rubbish year. This time last year I couldn’t walk because I had a really bad relapse that affected my right side.

“It was a weird one. I didn’t feel comfortable in the gate, and then when I started… my right side is my weaker side. Unfortunately with a condition like mine, riding can’t always be perfect, and I think I just overcompensated and just couldn’t balance on my weaker side and I was just all over the shop.”

This was the title the 33-year-old was defending from both the Tokyo and Rio Games and the very first medal event of the entire Paris Games. But after her fall, the judges would not allow her a restart in the event, with no mechanical issue noted. The British cyclist, who has MS, was distraught.

“It’s been a roller coaster. I guess that’s MS, it’s just not what you want the year out from the Games,” added Cox. “So the fact that I got here was amazing in itself. I’m just gutted that I was able to ride a ride that was pretty great in the first round, and just wasn’t able to go out there and show what I’m capable of.”

The drama had silenced the velodrome, which was full for the finals session. After receiving medical attention and being unstrapped, the British star was aided to the central concourse. There she sat on her haunches for 20 minutes before being wheeled out, with her hands over her face.

“It’s been a rough week,” she explained further. “I’ve been struggling with my mental health, so I really need to go back and try… speak to my psych probably who’s messaged me a million times! And just get my head back in here, because it’s alright, let yourself down, but I really don’t want to let the boys down.”

Cox had suffered a torn calf muscle, Achilles trouble and a relapse of her multiple sclerosis coming into the Games. The silver lining for her is that she still has the chance to win team gold later in the competition – this Sunday.

Cox, previously a gold medallist in athletics, added: “I want to get back on the start line. The boys are going to be counting on me to be able to go out there and deliver a quick lap. So I’m hoping I can get my head back in the game and go out there for them.”

Caroline Groot of the Netherlands went on to claim gold in this women’s C4-5 time trial by a huge margin with a time of 35.566 seconds, yet slower than Cox’s world and Paralympic record of 34.812.

Meanwhile, Daphne Schrager won ParalympicsGB’s first medal of the Games taking silver in women’s C1-3 3000m individual pursuit final. She finished almost 10 seconds behind China’s Wang Xiaomei.

Steve Bate and pilot Chris Latham also took silver from the final of the men’s B 4,000m individual pursuit. The Netherlands’ Tristan Bangma and pilot Patrick Bos won gold after clocking 3:55.439 - almost two seconds ahead of the British bike.

Speaking to Channel 4 afterwards, Bate said: “We had a great day. Our target coming here was to try and put the Dutch under pressure. They’ve been the best for the past three years. We’ve beaten them once, because they crashed. They’ve won every competition bar that one. They have just proven today how good they are. We’ve ridden a massive PB, faster than we thought we were going to go in both rides.”