Karen misses out on second medal by a whisker

The world-class hand cyclist had bagged a silver medal on her Paralympic debut in Wednesday’s H1-2 time trial.

But at lunchtime she came fourth by a fraction of a second in the gruelling 48-kilometre H 1-3 road race at Brands Hatch, which saw her jostling for a medal position in a thrilling battle to the finish.

Winner of the race in one hour 41 minutes and 34 seconds was US competitor Marianna Davis. Silver went to another American, Monica Bascio, in one hour 42 minutes and seven seconds. Karen finished in exactly the same time as her Great Britain rival Rachel Morris, who secured bronze in one hour 43 minutes and eight seconds by crossing the line hundredths of a second before Karen.

Former Calder High School pupil Karen, whose parents Mike and Christine still live in the Calder Valley, had previously enjoyed medal success at the hand cycling World Cup and World Championships.

She now lives in Inverness.