Record-breaking super Sunday for GB at Paralympics

Great Britain celebrated six golds among eight medals won in cycling and rowing on Sunday at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

ParalympicsGB rowers got the day off to a flying start with medals in three back-to-back races before the gold rush switched to the velodrome.

Lauren Rowles went into the history books as the first British rower to win three Paralympic golds, taking the spoils in the PR2 mixed double sculls.

The 26-year-old celebrated the stunning victory alongside Gregg Stevenson, a former Royal Engineer commando, at the Vaires-sur-Marne stadium.

Benjamin Pritchard began the charge with victory in the men's PR1 single sculls followed by gold in the PR3 mixed double sculls and silver in the PR3 mixed coxed four.

On the cycling track, James Ball beat GB team-mate and double Paralympic champion Neil Fachie in the men's B 1,000m time trial.

Sophie Unwin topped the podium in the women's B 3,000m individual pursuit and Lora Fachie, Neil's wife, claimed the bronze.

There was cheer for Kadeena Cox in the open C1-5 750m team sprint as she won gold with Jaco van Gass and Neil Cundy. The victory came three days after Cox crashed out of the women’s C4-5 5,000m time trial.

The day began with news that US Para-archer Tracy Otto has become engaged to her partner Jason Tabansky.

ParalympicsGB had a near-perfect morning with three golds and a silver from four races at the Vaires-sur-Marne stadium.

Rowles, 26, looked elated after claiming her historic third Paralympic gold in the PR2 mixed double sculls with Stevenson after a thrilling final.

It was a stunning victory. The Britons had been more than a boat length behind China's Liu Shang and Jiang Jijian but moved up the gears in the last 300m to beat them on the line.

Rowles also won the race at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 with former partner Laurence Whiteley.

Assessing their narrow victory, Rowles said: "It's the Paralympic Games; you either show up or you show out and I said that in the first race that it was going to come down to the line.

"The level of competition is high and I said to Gregg, 'when I say go, you go', and he did that today and we just went for it. [We] stayed in our lane, did our own thing and came through as champions."

Pritchard earned gold in the PR1 single sculls ahead of Italy's Giacomo Perini, after setting a Paralympic record in qualifying.

Great Britain's PR3 mixed coxed four crew continued the golden run. Frankie Allen, Giedre Rakauskaite, Josh O'Brien and Ed Fuller, coxed by Erin Kennedy, retained the title they won in Tokyo.

To finish off the morning, GB's Annabel Caddick and Samuel Murray secured silver in the PR3 mixed double sculls after holding off the threat of Germany's Jan Helmich and Hermine Krumbein. Australia’s Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager claimed the gold.

British cyclists shone on the closing day of track events at the velodrome, with three gold medals, a silver and bronze.

Ball beat team-mate Fachie to gold in the men's B 1,000m time trial to reverse the result of the Tokyo 2020 final.

In the women's B 3,000m individual pursuit, Unwin and pilot Jenny Holl topped the podium after beating off a challenge from Ireland's Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal in the final.

The British pair, who set a world record in the qualifiers, crossed the line two seconds ahead of their rivals.

It was an all-British bronze medal final, which Lora Fachie and her pilot Corrine Hall won ahead of Elizabeth Jordan and Dannielle Khan.

Cox picked herself up after crashing out of the women's C4-5 5,000m to win gold in the open C1-5 5,000m with team-mates Van Gass and Cundy. Cox had blasted out of the blocks to extend a big lead for the team on the first lap to beat Spain.

"After the highs and lows of this week it's nice to win a Paralympic title. I'm super happy to come out here and do what I did for the boys," said 33-year-old Cox.

"It took a lot to get me back out here. Mentally I had to climb over a massive hurdle to be on the start line."

This is Cundy's eighth Paralympic Games and victory gave him a ninth gold. It was the second gold in Paris for Van Gass.

American Para-archer Otto announced her engagement to partner Tabansky on Sunday.

The 28-year-old athlete, who was paralysed from the chest down after she was attacked by an ex-partner, wrote on Instagram: "I may not have won a medal today but I am going home with something shiny."

Otto took up Para-archery during her recovery from the attack in 2019 and has had a meteoric rise in the sport. She won gold in the W1 individual at the 2023 Parapan American Games.