Sophie Unwin storms to gold in the velodrome at maiden Paralympics

By Megan Armitage in Paris

Sophie Unwin was uncharacteristically left lost for words after she finally chased down her maiden Paralympic gold in Paris.

After taking time trial bronze earlier in the week, the Brit stepped up to take a maiden Paralympic gold alongside pilot Jenny Holl in the women's 3000m individual pursuit with a time of 3:19.149.

Unwin had already stamped her name on the event during qualifying, serving up a new world record time of 3:17.643s in the sweltering heat of the National Velodrome.

And it was a tale of what was to come later that afternoon against the Irish tandem Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal in the gold medal match, as Unwin and Holl set the two fastest times of their partnership in Paris.

"It feels incredible I don't think either of us have words," said Unwin, who is part of Aldi’s Nearest and Dearest programme in partnership with ParalympicsGB, helping to maximise support and minimise potential distractions for athletes so that they can focus on their performance.

"We're known as the chatty ones of the squad, but we've lost it.

"I'm not sure it's hit yet; on the track I thought that I was going to cry but I don't think I know what's happening anymore.

"The world record earlier was incredible, we set that target last year as we wanted to come here and do that

"When we saw the heat we were in we knew that there were a few bikes on our tail, so we had to go out there and set the bar high.

"It's amazing, we haven't been near these times until today."

Unwin and Holl fell behind Dunlevy and McCrystal early on but settled into their rhythm and roared back into gold medal position with just three laps to go.

Holl added: "We've worked really hard for this, and this is what it's been about for the past three years.

"Every session, effort and meeting e had was for Paris and about Paris and I'm so glad we could pull it off on the day.

"I burst into tears when I saw my family."

With a gold and bronze to their names already on the track, Unwin and Holl now turn their attention to the road as they go in the women's road race and time trial.

And they both admitted that they're raring to go in Paris.

Unwin said: "We've got two more races to go still so we have to recover and come down from this high a little bit before then and refocus."

Aldi are proud Official Partners of Team GB & ParalympicsGB, supporting all athletes through to Paris 2024.