Irish international Ronan Grimes has powered to a lifetime best time in the 1km TT at the Tokyo Paralympics, shaving over a second over his previous best time.
The Galway man said because the 1km TT is his weakest
event of those he is riding at the Games, he was very happy to clock a personal
best; a clear indication he is in the shape of his life on the biggest stage.
“I feel good after that. I’m never going to do well in a
kilo, in a combined C4 and C5 category. But for me that was a good ride - it
was a second off my PB from before,” he said. “This gets the nerves out of
the way, it is good to get to feel the track under speed, it gives me good
confidence for tomorrow.
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“Our preparations have been great. We’ve been away for a good while in Majorca, Portugal, and here in Japan in Masuda. It has been fantastic, everyone is fully committed. We won’t be any fitter than we are already. We are ready to show that fitness.”
Grimes goes again tomorrow in the 4km pursuit and
believed today’s PB augers well for the events to come.
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“The four-kilometre pursuit is my target and then the
time trial on August 31st,” he said. “I have my fingers crossed that tomorrow
goes well. I have gone through the process here, the warm up and the pre-race
preparations and if there were any issues, I could have changed them. There
isn’t so that is good.”
On a personal
note, Grimes said he was “blown away” by the support for him back home, saying
it carried him along at these Games.
“In my hometown in Athenry there are loads of banners out
and that was the last thing I was thinking. I can’t thank people enough for the
well wishes I’m getting, it means a whole lot and it wasn’t something I was
expecting,” he said.
Such was the competition in the 1km TT event today that
the world record tumbled. Grimes finished 15th – his time of 1:08.262
well ahead of his previous best of 1:09.438.
Spain’s Llamos Cabello scorched to the gold medal in a
new world record time of 1:01.557. Great Britain’s Jody Cundy won silver, in
1:01.847, and Jozef Metelka of Slovakia claimed the bronze in a time of 1:04.786.
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