Great Britain’s Crystal Lane-Wright is off to a winning start at the Paralympics. The cyclist captured silver in the Women’s C5 3000m Pursuit at the Izu Velodrome, posting the best time of her career.
However, she was narrowly beat out by fellow Brit and Paralympic juggernaut Dame Sarah Storey, who put up a blistering 3-minute, 27.057-second effort to break her own world record by over 4 seconds.
Lane-Wright became an elite cyclist in part due to Storey, the winningest British female Paralympian ever. She entered Tokyo with 14 golds, stretching back to Barcelona in 1992.
During a 2009 British Cycling talent search event, Storey noticed Lane-Wright and took her under her wing. By 2010, Lane-Wright was competing for the Great Britain Cycling Team, and qualified for her first Paralympics on home soil in London in 2012.
The final race was a rematch of the 2016 final in Rio. Storey caught and passed Lane-Wright at the 1,750-meter mark to win her 15th Paralympic gold.
But Lane-Wright was not disappointed in winning silver. She saw her opening result as a confidence boost for next week’s road events, and competitions beyond these Paralympics.
“I don’t think I’ve reached my full potential. I think I can keep getting better,” she told the BBC after the event. “As much as I’m up against Sarah, it’s me against me. I can only control what I can do. To get such a good PB this morning, I’m so pleased.”
