Welsh cycling superstar Mark Colbourne smashed the world record and won a gold medal in a day of high drama and emotion in the velodrome.
Champion dedicated his medal to his late father Cecil
Welsh cycling superstar Mark Colbourne smashed the world record and won a gold medal in a day of high drama and emotion in the velodrome.
Colbourne, 42, who fought his way into the sporting elite after breaking his back in a paragliding accident, became the toast of Paralympic cycling with a devastatingly fast ride in the 3km pursuit.
On Thursday the Tredegar cyclist marked his Paralympic debut with a silver medal.
He dedicated his gold medal to his late father Cecil, who died earlier this year, and said of realising his dream: "I keep pinching myself."
Minutes before his triumph the velodrome crowd had been booing a decision to deny British cycling phenomenon Jody Cundy the right to ride for a gold medal in the C4/C5 one-kilometre time-trial.
Cundy's back wheel spun and slipped at the start and his appeal for a re-start was denied - leaving him to make an expletive-laded emotional outburst as the fans jeered in disbelief.
In the same event war hero Jon-Allan Butterworth won a silver medal.
Butterworth, who lost an arm in a rocket attack on Basra air station in Iraq in 2007, said after his thrilling ride: "It's amazing. The crowd really got behind me and it was a great feeling."
The 26-year-old, from Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, who now lives in Sale, Cheshire, made his journey to the Games via the Help for Heroes' Battle Back scheme.
The velodrome's triumphs and disasters came on another day of excitement, inspiration and deep emotion at the Games.
Dream
Martine Wright, who lost both her legs after being horrifically injured in the 7/7 bombings, fulfilled her dream of representing her country at the Paralympics.
Wright, who proudly wears the number seven shirt in recognition of the day that changed her life, took her place in Britain's sitting volleyball team.
Her side lost to Ukraine but she said: "As a team we are really proud of ourselves. We have only got two-and-a-half years of experience and this is the first ever GB team so I am really proud, and this is the start of our journey."
Earlier at the cycling Aileen McGlynn and Helen Scott won a silver medal in the women's blind and visually impaired time-trial, narrowly missing out on gold by just half a second.
Afterwards McGlynn 39, from Glasgow, praised the feverish atmosphere and said: "It's amazing, brilliant."
In the stadium on the first day of athletics shot putter Aled Davies won bronze.
The 21-year-old Bridgend athlete said: "As soon as I came out of that tunnel the whole stadium erupted,
"They didn't know who I was but I was competing for Great Britain and everyone started screaming."
