Emily Petricola, Korey Boddington win Paralympic gold, Jessica Gallagher and Caitlin Ward race to tandem kilo silver

Australia has claimed two gold and a silver medal on day two of competition at Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, with debutants and veterans in the medal mix. 

Korey Boddington collected a gold medal and a Games record in the men's C4-C5 1000m time trial in his Paralympic Games debut after a whirlwind lead up for the 28-year-old accountant who until nine months ago had never left Queensland.   

In December he claimed four gold medals at the 2024 AusCycling Para-cycling Track National Championships in Melbourne and earned selection in the Australian Cycling Team for the 2024 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships team in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, where a silver and a bronze medal put him in contention for Paris 2024. 

“I don’t know what it is about cycling, I’m just obsessed with it,” said Boddington, who clocked a C4 Games record time of 1:02.021 to qualify fastest for the medal round where his final ride of 1:01.650 secured gold.

“This is unbelievable. I want to tell kids out there to go for their dreams, to fight for them, you got to shoot for the stars.” 

When he was 11, Boddington was playing cricket with his mates at Alexandra Headland on the Sunshine Coast when he hit a ‘six and out’ and ran across the road to retrieve the ball only to be hit by a van with a bull bar.  Some local surf lifesavers intervened to save his life before he was transferred to hospital with serious injuries. A few years later he crashed during a motocross race sustaining a brain injury that put him a coma for several weeks and caused his loss of shoulder function. 

“When I was studying accountancy I started riding my bike to university and doing a couple of bunch rides (on the road),” he said.

“They were really great but I was always most excited for the sprint at the end and after Uni I had the great idea to go to the velodrome where I can sprint 24/7, that’s all I have to do, and I just got hooked. 

“I probably have a bit of a peanut brain so a minute’s about where I start capping out,” he said laughing.

“It’s like that’s enough information for me and something about absolutely giving it your all, just absolutely rinsing yourself, just leaving nothing. I love it.” 

While it was a debut for Boddington in Paris, defence was on the mind of reigning Games and world champion Emily Petricola, who started as favourite in the women’s C4 3000m individual pursuit and thrived under pressure.

She clipped more than two seconds off the world record she set in Tokyo three years ago to clock 3:35.856 and qualify for the gold medal final where she caught and overtook New Zealand’s Anna Taylor to claim the win with two-and-a-half laps remaining. 

But the 44 year old Victorian admitted there was no guarantee she would be able to race at her best in Paris due to medical complications from her Multiple Sclerosis (MS). 

“It’s been a really tough last eight weeks and it’s only been because of medical staff back at home and here that I’ve been able to make it to the start line,” she explained.

“I’ve been on the physio table once or twice a day and even today, between races, I was getting more physio so I’m really, really grateful for the support that I’ve been able to receive. 

“I just kept telling myself, people have prepared me for this, my body is trained to do this and it doesn’t matter how I feel or what’s going on at the end of the day, my body will go to autopilot and just get it done,” she explained.

“I’m really grateful (for that support).” 

Petricola had family and friends in the stands to support her and there were emotional scenes after her win as she embraced her brother, nephew, niece and one of her closest friends. 

“I just feel so incredibly proud that I was able to do this and give them this moment, so they can also see the very best, despite everything, like what we can still enjoy,” she said. “Just seeing them celebrating and enjoying this moment as much as I did, that makes me emotional to even think about.” 

Jessica Gallagher, in her sixth Paralympic Games and eight years after her last Games appearance, rode with tandem pilot Caitlin Ward to add a silver medal in the women's B 1000m time trial to the team’s haul. 

It’s a best ever Games result for Gallagher who was third at her last Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016 and was the first female athlete to win a medal for Australia at the Paralympic Winter Games when she claimed bronze in the alpine skiing visually impaired slalom in 2010 in Vancouver. 

“It’s incredible, because I didn’t think I would be back here, if I’m honest,” Gallagher said.

 “I’m really happy to be back on the team and to have had the opportunity to be out here today, and so for us to deliver on that performance is so exciting and means the world.”

Darren Hicks and Meg Lemon were also in action on Day 2, with Hicks finishing fifth in the men's C2 individual pursuit and Lemon sixth in the women's C4 individual pursuit.

Originally published on Paralympics Australia by Gennie Sheer.

Feature picture: Michael Steele/Getty Images