Afghanistan veteran Jaco Van Gass claims cycling gold for Paralympics GB in Tokyo

Afghanistan veteran Jaco Van Gass has claimed a gold medal for Great Britain after romping to victory on his Paralympic debut.

The paracyclist suffered devastating injuries after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade while serving with the Parachute Regiment in 2009.

Van Gass lost his left arm at the elbow and also endured a collapsed lung, punctured internal organs, a broken tibia, fractured knee and shrapnel wounds.

WHAT A RACE

🥇 @jacovangass takes it!

GOLD in the C3 Individual Pursuit #ImpossibleToIgnore pic.twitter.com/dF3KsC97kB

The South African-born athlete faced 11 operations and extensive rehabilitation.

But more than a decade on, the 35-year-old has rebuilt his life and has made a remarkable recovery.

Van Gass applied military precision to smash the C3 3,000m individual pursuit record.

His winning medal race followed a qualifying session which saw him clock 3 minutes, 17.593 seconds – shaving more than nine seconds off the world record posted by Russian Alexey Obydennov in April 2014.

Great Britain has enjoyed a winning streak on Thursday as swimmers Maisie Summers-Newton and Tully Kearney smashed world records to win their events at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre – with Summers-Newton snatching the 200m individual medley title from hero Ellie Simmonds.

Van Gass went on to get the better of compatriot Finlay Graham at the Izu Velodrome on Thursday.

Silver medallist Graham initially outran Obydennov in 3 min 19.780 seconds in an earlier heat.

But the 21-year-old Scotsman was ultimately upstaged in the opening 7.5 laps and unable to close the gap in the deciding race.

Equestrian Sir Lee Pearson also claimed his 12th Paralympic title in individual dressage.

The tears just flowed at Northampton Swimming Club. Tears of joy from the proudest coach in Britain today. Step forward Andy Sharp, Maisie Summers-Newton’s coach.

“She has worked so hard for that gold medal and it meant so much to me seeing her win it,” he told us at Northampton High School where the 19-year-old trains.

“I’m the proudest coach in the country today. It’s all Maisie’s hard work, I just help her where I can. I kept my emotions in check at the start of the race but the tears came when I realised nobody could catch her.”

Summers-Newton got into swimming after attending the London 2012 Paralympics to see her hero Ellie Simmonds. Today she beat her. “That’s the beauty of sport. Ellie inspired Maisie and now Maisie is the Paralympic gold medalist. I’m just so, so happy for her.”

Visually-impaired cyclist Aileen McGlynn claimed Team GB’s opening medal on day two of the games – taking silver in the women’s B 1000m time trial with a personal best of 1:06.743.

The Paisley-born, three-time Paralympic champion was reunited with pilot Helen Scott 12 weeks ago, having previously won silver and bronze medals alongside her at London 2012.

In addition to his impressive achievements on two wheels, Van Gass has also trekked to the North Pole in an expedition alongside Prince Harry.

He has also run a string of marathons and reached the summit of mountains around the world.

His opening event is the first of five he will face in Tokyo, with the C1-3 kilo, C3 time trial, C1-3 road race and the C1-5 mixed team sprint to follow.

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