Team Ireland has won its first Gold medal of the Paris 2024 Paralympics, bringing the Irish medal count to five as of Wednesday, September 4.
Katie-George Dunlevy, piloted by Linda Kelly, struck gold in the Para Cycling road race B Time Trial, covering 28.3km in a time of 38.16.58 on Wednesday.
It is Katie-George’s second medal of this year’s Paralympics after winning Silver, with tandem partner Eve McCrystal, in the Women's B 3000m Individual Pursuit with a time of 3:21.315 on Sunday.
It is also Katie-George's third time winning Gold for Ireland in the event.
Overall, the para cyclist, who is from the UK but qualifies for Team Ireland through her Co Donegal native father, has now won a staggering seven Paralympic medals - four Gold and three Silver.
GOLD FOR DUNLEVY AND KELLY! ??#TheNextLevel | #Paris2024 | #TeamIreland pic.twitter.com/ACGZIKg5HX
— Paralympics Ireland (@ParalympicsIRE) September 4, 2024
Speaking with RTÉ Sport after her Gold medal winning cycle, Katie-George laughed and said: “Pain is the word."
After discussing how challenging the course was, Katie-George heaped praise on her pilot Linda Kelly: "I’m just so proud of her. We both had pressure - I was trying to retain my title, she knew that, from Tokyo, I wanted to come here and defend my title.
“Linda came on board last year and she’s done so well and she had pressure to deliver today, but I believed in her, believed in every pedal stroke. She had [a] concussion in May so had time off the bike.
"She had a lot of challenges this year, we both did so for us to come away with the win, I’m just very emotional now. I can’t quite believe it!”
Linda said becoming an Olympic champion is "magic, it's just like a dream. I can't believe it. It’s going to take a while to sink in. I’m just so happy."
"We both had pressure - I wanted to retain my title" - Katie-George Dunlevy on the challenges that she and Linda Kelly ahead of winning that gold medal in the women's B time trial #RTEparalympics #paris2024
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 4, 2024
?Watch @rte2 @rteplayer
?Updates https://t.co/rajKKe3nIy pic.twitter.com/Lxop6GxTc1
On hand for Ireland's big win on Wednesday was TD Thomas Byrne, Ireland's Minister for Sport.
Fantastic to be there to see legendary cyclist Katie-George Dunlevy and her pilot Linda Kelly win gold in the Women's B Individual Time Trial ? @ParalympicsIRE @Paralympics #TeamIreland #nextgeneration @CyclingIreland pic.twitter.com/I3maaRX0D1
— Thomas Byrne (@ThomasByrneTD) September 4, 2024
Also competing in the B Time Trial on Wednesday was Team Ireland's Josephine Healion, piloted by Eve McCrystal - their time of 41.57.61 landed them in fifth place.
Also on Wednesday, Richael Timothy finished 12th in the C1-3 Individual Time Trial, Damien Vereker and Mitchell McLaughlin landed seventh in the Men’s B Individual Time Trial, and Ronan Grimes landed eighth in the C4 Individual Time Trial.
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