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Paige Greco and Emily Petricola have delivered a golden double at the Izu Velodrome to kick off Australia’s medal charge at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Greco’s win in the 3000m individual pursuit C1-3 (C3) was Australia’s first medal and the first gold awarded here in Tokyo.
“It felt so good but at first I couldn’t believe I did it,” said Greco of her tearful reaction after crossing the line. “I had imagined that moment for so long and just to be there and be on that podium and see the Aussie flag it’s, you know, very much a very surreal moment.”
The 24 year old Adelaide resident had qualified fastest in a Paralympic and world record time of time of 3:52.283, knocking eight seconds off her previous best to reclaim the record that had been broken minutes earlier by eventual silver medallist, Chinese rider Xiaomei Wang (3:55.781).
Three hours later Greco lowered both records again with a blistering finals ride that saw her pull further and further ahead with each pedal stroke of the 12 lap event. She crossed the line in 3:50.815 a convincing four-seconds faster than Wang.
Greco says having Wang break her record before she rode her heat provided strong motivation.
“I was trying not to look at what all the girls were doing but I did see the world record broken and I was a bit nervous when I saw that but I knew I just had to bring myself back to what I needed to do in my head, and the schedule that I needed to keep and I was going to go pretty fast,” said Greco.
Greco says her win is testament to a great team effort and gave credit to her coach David Betts for his support.
“It’s so amazing and we did it right,” said Greco. “We both really, really wanted it and I’ve had amazing support from him, he really believed in me which really helped me push myself and gave me confidence so I’m very grateful, really grateful for that.”
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Not long after and fired up by Greco’s win, two-time reigning world champion Petricola, 41, chased down her rival, Shawn Morelli of the USA, overtaking her with three laps to go to claim Australia’s second gold of the day.
“Paige (Greco)and I are super close and when we travel we always share a room and we call each other like rainbow roomies because we generally have a pretty good strike rate in terms of getting a good result,” said Petricola. “Watching her go out and smash it was really inspiring for me, I really love her and I’m so glad that we both were able to go out today and put in a really strong performance and show the world that we are not to be forgotten.”
Petricola was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2007 but with support from two-time Olympic rower Matt Ryan and her personal coach five-time Olympic cyclist, Shane Kelly, she has become not only a champion on the bike but an example of what can be achieved despite the uncertain nature of MS.
“I was an emotional, really emotional wreck maybe 10 minutes after the race because it really gets you that this isn’t just about one person it’s about, like a village of people that get you to a start line, especially when you have a chronic illness like you can’t survive life without a big, strong support network and I’m so glad and grateful that the people that I surround myself with, not only in sport but in life, have really gotten me to this point, they are the reason why I’m able to get on the bike every day and chase this crazy dream that seems so ridiculous to most, you know, grown people.
“I’m lucky that as I say that I’ve got really awesome support back home and, you know, around the world that have supported me in this journey from the minute I started.”
Like close friend Greco, Petricola had to qualified fastest posting 3:38.061 almost six seconds better than the world record time she set at the 2020 World Championships in Canada.
“I didn’t know what anyone after me was going to do and when you’re not last (heat) off you’ve got to really just try and do your best ride and for me that ride was, you know, it was a good ride, it was a solid ride,” said Petricola.
“My instruction from coach Nick Formosa was to just try and ride a similar way to the heat, controlled aggression, because if you try and catch someone in the first kilo or two, you can really blow yourself up pretty hard and an individual pursuit can go ugly pretty quickly,” said Petricola whose qualifying time was eight-seconds faster than Morelli’s.
”The aim was to win a gold medal today, it wasn’t about setting any records and whilst the record is a massive bonus obviously and a massive achievement that I’m really grateful for, it wasn’t the aim of the game today,” she explained. “It was a gold medal and I’m so, so glad that we had a smart strategy that paid off and now we get to bring the medal home for the team.”
The third Australian in action today was Meg Lemon, 31, who was in impressive form and clocked two personal best rides to finish in fourth place.
“Meg’s a really fierce competitor and whilst I’m sure that there’s some level of disappointment for her in missing out on a medal she should feel really proud of her performance and she’ll bounce back from this and come back strong and hard in the road events so I looking forward to seeing what she’s got,” said Petricola who along with Lemon and Greco will line up next week in the road events at the Mt Fuji Speedway.
“I think I’ll go home to hotel and I’ll enjoy it with the team and let everyone sort of feel it, but then from tomorrow we’re back on the job.”
Watch the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games live and free on Seven and 7plus from August 24 – September 5.
By: Gennie Sheer, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 25 August 2021
