Dame Sarah Storey bags 13th Paralympic gold with time-trial win to take GB total to 35

Image: Great Britain's Dame Sarah Storey on her way to gold in the time trial

Dame Sarah Storey claimed her 13th Paralympic gold by winning the C5 road time-trial in Rio as Great Britain stormed past their haul from London 2012 on another day of huge success.

ParalympicsGB ended Tuesday's sixth day of competition with 34 gold medals - equalling the total from the 11 days of competition four summers ago - and Storey delivered the 35th early on Wednesday afternoon, moments before another three arrived in quick succession.

The 38-year-old became Britain's most successful female Paralympian when her 12th gold in the C5 individual pursuit saw her overtake wheelchair racer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson's haul of 11 gold medals.

And Storey added her 13th with a dominant win in the 20-kilometres road time-trial at Pontal.

Storey, who won her first Paralympic gold as a 14-year-old swimmer in Barcelona in 1992, was almost a minute ahead of her nearest rival at the halfway mark and she went on to secure a commanding win in 27 minutes 22.42 seconds.

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Image: Storey has now won 13 Paralympic gold medals

"It's just amazing, seeing that national flag or singing that national anthem," Storey said.

"I was so excited this morning I was like, 'I need to calm down a bit'. The adrenaline was pumping. I was excited to get going. I woke up at half-past-four I was so excited to race today."

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Anna Harkowska of Poland was second in 28mins 52.79secs, more than 1:30 behind, with Storey's British team-mate Crystal Lane finishing fourth in 29:37.23.

ParalympicsGB's second time-trial gold came when Karen Darke produced the fastest time in the women's H1-2-3 competition and went one spot better than her silver at London 2012.

Image: Great Britain's Karen Darke starts off what turned out to be a gold medal-winning ride in Rio

Darke clocked 33 minutes 44.93 seconds in her test against the clock and was just under 13 seconds quicker than her nearest challenger Alicia Dana of the United States.

A third gold medal arrived moments later courtesy of another member of the cycling team Kadeena Cox, although this victory came on the athletics track.

Cox had already won a bronze medal in the T38 100m and moved into the velodrome to win the C4-5 500m time-trial event, and her second gold came back in the Olympic Stadium.

Image: Kadeena Cox now has track gold medals in cycling and athletics

The 25-year-old set a new world record in winning the T38 400m final, crossing the line in one minute 00.71 seconds ahead of China's Junfei Chen and Veronica Hipolito of Brazil.

There were also celebrations for ParalympicsGB at the Equestrian Centre where Sophie Wells, a silver medallist in London, went one better by winning the Grade IV Individual Championship Test dressage competition and making it 38 golds for the team.

Image: Dressage star Sophie Wells joined the ParalympicsGB gold rush

Wells, who was part of Britain's gold-winning dressage team four years ago, totalled 74.857 per cent for her routine on Valerius, just over half-a-point better than runner-up Michele George of Belgium (74.333).

But it was disappointment for ParalympicsGB's flag-bearer Lee Pearson, who had to settle for silver in the Grade Ib Individual Championship Test.

Pearson led for much of the competition with his score of 74.103 per cent but he was beaten by Austria's Pepo Puch, who scored 75.103 to take gold. Pearson will try for an 11th Paralympic gold on Zion in the freestyle event on Friday.

Image: Steve Bate (right) and pilot Adam Duggleby have joined the list of double gold medal winners in Rio

The 39th gold medal for ParalympicsGB came in cycling when Steve Bate secured his second title in Rio, this time in the men's B time-trial.

Bate, partnered by guide Adam Duggleby, completed the course in 34 minutes 35.33 seconds and beat Vincent Ter Schure of the Netherlands by nine seconds.

There was also a bronze medal on the track for Britain's Maria Lyle in the women's T35 100m final, where she finished behind China's Xia Zhou and Isis Holt from Australia.

Colin Lynch claimed Ireland's fourth medal of the Paralympics, with silver in the men's C2 road time-trial and there was also success for Italy's Alex Zanardi, who had both legs amputated after a crash in IndyCar - he defended his H5 road time-trial title.

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