Katie-George Dunlevy and Linda Kelly take silver medal in B Road Race

Katie-George Dunlevy, right, and pilot Linda Kelly of Ireland during the Women's B road race on day nine of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at Clichy-sous- Bois in Paris, France. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Katie-George Dunlevy’s bid to successfully defend her Paralympic road race crown was dashed in the sprint to the line by Britain’s Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl.

Dunlevy and pilot Linda Kelly led Friday’s road race for pretty much all bar the last 200 metres of the 99.4km course. They could not at any point, however, shake the British bike.

Unwin and Holl sat on the back wheel of the Irish throughout before striking at the finish to overtake Dunlevy and Kelly and take gold with three seconds to spare.

This is the same British pairing that denied Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal gold in the individual pursuit on the track last Sunday.

The silver medal captured represents Dunlevy’s third of the Games, her eighth overall, and Ireland’s sixth of these Paris Games.

Josephine Healion and McCrystal were fourth in the same race, coming across the line three minutes and four second off the British bike in bronze.

Earlier on the roads around Clichy-sous-Bois, Ronan Grimes finished down in 17th in the C4-5 race. The 35-year-old sat 11th going into the last lap, but a tyre puncture thereafter saw him lose time and places.

It was not the top-10 placing he wanted to sign off on.

“It was nice to finish my last race rather than finish it in the car. I'm happy, like I am. I'm a bit disappointed too, I would have liked to have finished top ten, that would have been a nice cherry on the cake, but overall, I look back fondly on this, and yeah, like I think I can finish on it,” said Grimes.

Barry McClements will swim in tonight’s S9 100m butterfly final after finishing third in the opening heat, in a time of 1:01.85, to qualify sixth fastest overall. The final goes to the blocks at 5.35pm.

“That felt good,” McClements said of his heat swim.

“At the Europeans, I turned fifth at the wall and finished third, so my back end speed, I’m able to bring it back a bit more than the other guys. That’s my second fastest morning swim ever, so hopefully a PB tonight.” 

There was a season’s best for Aaron Shorten in the T20 1,500m final. Shorten’s clocking of 4:02.71 brought him home seventh of seven at the Stade de France.