Australian Paige Greco races to first gold medal of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics

Paige Greco is the first champion of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

The 24-year-old Australian Para cyclist from Adelaide won the first gold medal in the women’s C1-3 3000m individual pursuit on Wednesday. Her victory came just prior to 2:00 pm local time in Tokyo.

Greco clocked a world record of three minutes, 50.815 seconds on the track at the Izu Velodrome. Her average speed was 46.791 km/h. The Australian broke her previous world record of just over four minutes, which she set at an event in the Netherlands in March 2019.

The silver medal was won by Wang Xiaomei of China, while bronze went to Denise Schindler of Germany.

Greco, who rides for the Port Adelaide Cycling Club at home in Australia, is also a road cycling time trial world champion, in addition to possessing two track cycling world titles. The newly crowned Australian Paralympics gold medalist had competed in Para athletics for seven years before transitioning to Para cycling just three years ago, in early 2018.

The Australian Para athlete was born with cerebral palsy, which primarily affects the right side of her body. Greco also suffered a seizure in 2011, which has a lasting effect on her running technique.

Complying with COVID-19 countermeasures for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Greco collected the gold medal from a tray and placed it around her neck at the medal and flower ceremony at the Izu Velodrome venue.

Australia is off to a fast start at the Tokyo Paralympics. Greco’s gold medal is one of five won by her nation on the opening day of competition. Her fellow Australian cyclist Emily Petricola also was victorious in the 3000m pursuit event in the C4 class.

Fellow Australian William Martin also won gold in the first swimming final of the Paralympics, taking the 400-meter freestyle in the S9 class in 4:10.25 seconds. Ben Popham took victory in the men’s 100m freestyle S8 category, the final swimming event on the program. In total, four Australian swimmers won gold medals at the Tokyo Aquatics Center on Wednesday.

Currently, with 10 medals, Australia leads the medals table, two ahead of both Ukraine and China. Twenty-four gold medals were awarded on the opening day of competition in track cycling, swimming and Para fencing.

Outside of competition, organizers confirmed Wednesday that two more athletes have tested positive for COVID-19 in the Paralympic Village. It brings the number of positive tests by athletes in the village to three over the last two days.

Organizers have confirmed nine positive tests in the village over the last three days. The additional six, who are not athletes, are described as “Games-related personnel.”

Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya said the athletes were “from different sports and different countries.” However, he provided few details and said the athletes have been placed in isolation.

Takaya was asked if there was a COVID-19 cluster in the village.

“Whether or not there is a cluster should be based on the advice from specialists,” he said.

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