'We said we’ve just got to rip it and send it': Donohoe, Boddington and Allan win Paralympic team sprint bronze

Australia has wrapped up the final day of track para-cycling at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games with a bronze medal in the open C1-5 team sprint at Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

It is the fifth medal for the Australian Cycling Team para-cyclists in Paris, who also claimed three gold and a silver medal to finish fourth on the velodrome medal table.

Gordon Allan (C2), Alistair Donohoe (C5) and Korey Boddington (C4) clocked 49.036 in the bronze medal final versus France, who led the first two laps of the team sprint but finished with a time of 49.961.

“I knew it was going well after our qualifying ride and we were all on fire so we said we’ve just got to rip it and send it, and what will be, will be,” said Allan, for whom this is a first Paralympic medal.

“We’ve just been getting quicker and quicker and quicker and this is such a great, great feeling.” 

The packed velodrome was screaming for the home team but the Aussies had other ideas. 

“As we crossed the line the silence was really deafening and I sort of felt bad trying to salute to a crowd that was so disappointed and I had to really pick out the Aussies in the stands,” laughed Donohoe who, as an endurance specialist, admits he felt the pressure of delivering for his sprinter teammates. 

“I am so nervous for this event, because I know how fast these boys can go and being the enduro on the squad I’m like, ‘Can I hold on? Can I rip it? Can I deliver?’,” explained Donohoe, who rode second wheel behind Gordon.

“I was lucky I managed to hang on to Gordo who has such a rapid start, and then I just got out the way for Korey to deliver the win.” 

It’s the second medal of the Games for Boddington, who opened the team’s medal assault with gold in the men's C4-5 1000m time trial and was delighted to be racing in the team event. 

“Gordo was so quick out of the gate. Man, his shadow was back in the corner,” Boddington said.

“I was thinking, Al, you better get on cause he’s zooming. 

“Then we had the perfect crossover to change to Al and he was flying and then coming out of the corner. I don’t know what came over me, but I thought, I better stand up to come past him, because he was going so fast.” 

The trio was half a second faster than their qualifying ride, however, Great Britain in a time of 47.738 were in a class of their own, claiming gold comfortably ahead of Spain.

In the men's B tandem 1000m time trial, Kane Perris and pilot Luke Zaccaria set a new national record time of 1:00.374 to qualify third fastest for the final but knew they would need backup for the final and ride a sub-minute time to score a medal. 

Their finals ride of 1:00.940 wasn’t what they’d hoped for and put them in fourth, 1.1 seconds back of the bronze medal. 

“Finishing fourth is always heartbreaking, but I think over the coming hours, days and weeks, I’ll be feeling pretty proud of what we’ve done out here,” said Perris.

“It’s been a big journey and a big couple of years.” 

Perris made his Australian Cycling Team debut at the 2024 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in March, but a crash in the opening tandem team sprint event left him with a shoulder injury, three broken ribs, and a punctured lung.

“It took a little while to come back from that and build confidence back on the bike so to come out and break a national record and then finish fourth, I think over time, I’ll feel okay, but right now, right now, it is heartbreaking to miss a medal,” Perris said.

Zaccaria said what hurts most is knowing they can ride faster but not today. 

“I feel devastated for the team and as athletes, I know we’re our own harshest critics, but I really wanted to do this for Kane and come away with the medal, and we are capable of that, we definitely were, so it’s just heartbreaking,” he said.

Alana Forster made her Paralympic debut on the final day at the track in the women's C5 3000m individual pursuit leading up to this week’s road events which are her focus.

She had hoped to break the four-minute barrier and did that with ease clocking a personal-best time of 3:41.497 to finish in fifth place. 

In the women's B tandem 3000m individual pursuit, sprinters Jessica Gallagher and pilot Caitlin Ward, who won silver in the B 1000m time trial, took to the track for their required second event of the Games and finished seventh.

Originally published on Paralympics Australia by Gennie Sheer.

Feature picture: Elsa/Getty Images