Rio 2016 Paralympics: Libby Clegg says she'll go even faster in London after double gold

Libby Clegg has promised to run even quicker at next summer’s World ParaAthletics Championships in London after completing the T11 sprint double last night in Rio.

The visually-impaired athlete finished ahead of China’s Liu Cuiqing in the 200m and benefited from the disqualification of Brazilian favourite Terezhina Guilhermina for a false start. Clegg and her guide Chris Clarke ran a Paralympic record time of 24.51sec — 0.07sec outside their world record.

Clegg, 26, said: “2017 will be exciting. We definitely know we can go faster. I obviously didn’t get a PB today, so that is something we will be working on. It was the same in the 100m; I had a shocker of a start, so we can go even faster in that one as well. Competing in front of a home crowd again will be great and I will thrive off that.”

Clarke revealed after the race he had had to overcome illness in the days leading up to the race. He said: “I’d call it man flu — I did feel awful. I was thinking, ‘I just want to cry right now’. But it’s been an absolute adventure and I’m so grateful to Libby for letting me be a part of it.”

In the pool, Stephanie Millward (S8 100m backstroke) and Matt Wylie (S9 50m freestyle) won within the space of 15 minutes as Britain equalled their London gold haul.

For Millward, her Paralympic record winning time of 1min 13.02sec represented a first Paralympic gold medal at the 13th attempt. For Wylie, who won in 25.95sec, this was the realisation of a long-term dream.

He said: “I was sat in a meeting, maybe seven years ago, with a big Brazilian flag on the wall. I’ve been waiting quite a long time for this.”

Six-time Paralympic champion David Weir finished fourth in the T54 1,500m, while Ellie Simmonds relinquished the S6 400m freestyle title she won in Beijing and retained in London.