VIS athete Jessica Gallagher realised a dream today when she claimed the bronze medal with pilot Madison Janssen in the tandem kilometre time trial on the velodrome in Rio.
In the process she made history becoming the first Australian to medal at both a Winter and a Summer Paralympic Games. In Vancouver six years ago she became the first Australian female to win a medal at a Winter Paralympic Games, finishing third in the Women’s Slalom.
Today Gallagher and Janssen rode a personal best time of 1:08.171 to break the Paralympic record before their time was eclipsed by the gold medal winning performance of British pair Sophie Thornhill and pilot Helen Scott who clocked 1:06.283 for the four laps.
The final tandem to race was that of Dutch women Larissa Klaassen and pilot Haliegh Doman who fell short of the British time with their 1:07.059 but pipped the Australians for silver.
