Katie George Dunlevy has struck gold in the Para Cycling (road race), B Time Trial. Adding to her bronze medal, Katie George, piloted by Linda Kelly put in a fantastic stint on the bike, covering 28.3km in a time of 38.16.58.
When asked could she put into words how she was feeling Katie George laughed and said, “Pain is the word!”
“It was a really, really challenging course. Really technical. I thought we were going to come off a few times but that’s racing for you. You’re on the limit. We knew the course suited us, the uphill sections suited us so we had to really go over on our power on those hill parts because that was where we’d get time on the other bikes and I think we delivered a really good ride.”
“Even on the second lap we were able to push out big power on those hills. When we heard we were down on the first lap I thought ‘keep going, just keep going’.”
“I’ve been in many races where it’s not over ‘til you cross that line so you’ve just got to keep going and just hope the other bikes maybe fade. You’ve just got to keep strong, keep racing, keep believing, just keep racing to that finish line.”
“When I heard we were up I was just trying to relax and push and feel what Linda was doing in front and just try and be as aero (dynamic) as I could be behind her, tucked in. I’m just so proud of her. We had pressure on us. I was trying to retain my title from Tokyo, she knew that. “
“Linda came on board last year and she’s done so well with so much pressure on her today to deliver but I believed in her, believed in every pedal stroke. She had 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 this!”
On how she felt becoming Olympic champion, Linda said, “It’s 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 put the work in, it’s been a roller-coaster of a year with Katie’s collarbone and my concussion. I’m just so proud of Katie; how she recovered from the broken collarbone. She put the work in. She wanted to be here. She just wanted to win. We both had the same ambition. I’m absolutely thrilled, just over the moon.”
