Status: 08/31/2021 5:24 a.m.
Annika Zeyen won the gold medal at the start of the road cycling competitions. It was the culmination of a very successful German day. Vico Merklein had already won the silver medal over 24 km.
Annika Zeyen won the fourth German gold medal at the Paralympics in Tokyo. The Bonn woman won the time trial on the former Formula 1 track at the foot of Mount Fuji and was around three quarters of a minute ahead after 32: 46.97 minutes.
It was the culmination of a very successful German day. Vico Merklein had already won the silver medal over 24 km. Both Kerstin Brachtendorf and Michael Teuber had previously been rewarded with bronze medals.
Great success as a wheelchair basketball player
Zeyen won the handbike in the time trial over 16 km confidently against a field of ten competitors. If she was still in second place after the first eight-kilometer lap, she could no longer be held in the second section and was 44 seconds ahead of second-placed Francesca Porcellato from Italy. Renata Kaluza from Poland came in third.
The 36-year-old Zeyen only switched to paracycling in 2019 after having enjoyed many years of great success as a wheelchair basketball player. In 2012 in London she won the gold medal with the German team, in 2008 in Beijing and in 2016 in Rio both silver. In the Paracycling, the Bonn woman won gold in the street race in her first year in 2019.
You can find a detailed report here: