GB’s Atkinson wins cycling silver after dramatic fall

Archie Atkinson suffered a dramatic fall in the final stages of the C4 4,000m individual pursuit final as the British rider won Paralympic silver in Paris.

The 20-year-old – the youngest member of GB’s cycling squad – appeared on course to add gold at Paris 2024 to his world championship title on his Games debut as he led Slovakia’s Jozef Metelka by a significant margin.

However, Atkinson was visibly tiring with just 500m to go, and came off his bike on the corner as he lost balance.

Atkinson was struck on the back of the head by the bike as he came off at high speed, and had to be helped off the track in front of a stunned crowd in the Paris velodrome.

“I was going very well, thinking, ‘I’ve got this’, then, bang,” Atkinson said after the race. “I could see him [Metelka], I was trying to catch him. Then, I tried to push on and bang.”

BBC Sport have been told that Atkinson will be assessed by the British Cycling medical team, but he has not suffered any serious injury.

Atkinson had riden in the men’s C4-5 1,000m time trial the day before, finishing fifth.

Earlier on Saturday, the rider from Cheshire had produced an absolutely stand-out ride in qualifying as he smashed the world record by registering a time of 4:17.700, five seconds quicker than the previous best.

He had beaten Metelka in the qualifier, but it was the Slovakian who took the gold as he stayed in contention and rode around the prone Atkinson in the final metres.

Atkinson was awarded silver for reaching the final, despite not finishing the race, and was well enough to collect it on the podium and wave to the crowd who chanted his name in appreciation.

“I’m pretty pleased with that, to come away with a silver medal even after crashing,” he said.

“Setting the world record in the morning, maybe the pressure got to me a bit, maybe I let it go to my head, that could have played a part. But I can’t be disappointed, I have to reset and refocus for the road races.”

Gatien le Rousseau won bronze for France, beating compatriot Kevin le Cunff.

There was also disappointment for Jaco van Gass, who failed to win a medal in the men’s C1-3 1,000m time trial – despite setting two new world records.

Van Gass broke the C3 record in the final as he rode in 1:04.825 – surpassing the benchmark he set in the morning session.

But due to the categories competed at the Paralympics, van Gass was also up against C1 and C2 riders – with three of them recording faster times in the final.

Li Zhangyu led a Chinese one-two with Liang Weicong in second, while France’s Alexandre Leaute picked up bronze – his second medal of these home Games.

Li and Liang are C1 riders, those judged by the sport’s world governing body, the UCI, to have the most severe disabilities, while Leaute is C2, with van Gass C3.

The Chinese riders’ final time is 92.01% of the time it takes them to run the course in this category, while Leaute’s was 94.5%.

Van Gass’ was unaltered – had all four riders had unaltered times recorded, the Brit would have won gold.

Van Gass called on the UCI to review Paralympic categorisation and factoring as he expressed his disappointment on missing out on a medal.

“It’s heartbreaking to be very honest,” he told Channel 4. “It’s just the factoring system, it shows that they don’t quite have it right.

“To ride a world record and not be right in the medals, it shows that the factoring system needs a bit of work, maybe a shout out to the UCI to look into that.”

BBC Sport have contacted the UCI for comment.

Van Gass still has the mixed team relay on Sunday and the road race events to come next week.

“I need a good recovery,” he said. “I didn’t really sleep a lot last night, I was too excited. I need a good night’s sleep, maybe a massage and we’ll go again with the two others.”

The 36-year-old British army veteran won the men’s C3 3,000m individual pursuit final on Friday – just one week after his Games were in doubt when he was hit by a car during training.

Earlier, GB’s former C1 world champion Fran Brown failed to make it through qualifying for the women’s C1-3 500m time trial.

Brown, on her Paralympic debut, could only finish eighth fastest with the top six progressing to the medal races.

It was also bad news for Blaine Hunt, who was unable to follow up his C4-5 time trial silver from Friday.

Hunt, 35, failed to reach the medal races in the C5 4,000m pursuit after coming seventh in qualifying.