GB's Atkinson suffers dramatic fall in cycling final

Archie Atkinson suffered a dramatic fall in the final stages of the men's C4 4,000m individual pursuit final as he missed out on Paralympic gold.

The 20-year-old - the youngest member of GB's cycling squad - appeared on course to add Paralympic gold to his world championship title on his Games debut as he led Slovakia's Jozef Metelka by a significant margin.

However, Atkinson was visibly tiring in the final 1,000m, and came off his bike on the corner as he lost balance.

Atkinson was struck on the back of the head by the bike as he came off, and had to be helped off the track in front of a stunned crowd in the Paris velodrome.

Earlier, the rider from Cheshire had produced an absolutely stand-out ride in qualifying as he smashed the world record by registering a time of 4:17.700, five seconds quicker than the previous best.

He had beaten Metelka in the qualifier, but it was the Slovakian who took the gold as he stayed in contention and rode around the prone Atkinson in the final metres.

Atkinson was awarded silver for reaching the final, despite not finishing the race.

Gatien le Rousseau won bronze for France, beating compatriot Kevin le Cunff.

There was also disappointment for Jaco van Gass, who failed to win a medal in the men's C1-3 1,000m time trial - despite setting two new world records.

Van Gass broke the C3 record in the final as he rode in 1:04.825 - surpassing the benchmark he set in the morning session.

But due to the categories competed at the Paralympics, van Gass was also up against C1 and C2 riders - with three of them riding faster in the final.

Li Zhangyu led a Chinese one-two with Liang Weicong in second, while France's Alexandre Leaute picked up bronze - his second medal of these home Games.

Van Gass called on the sport's world governing body, the UCI, to review Paralympic categorisation as he expressed his disappointment on missing out on a medal.

"It's heartbreaking to be very honest," he told Channel 4. "It's just the factoring system, it shows that they don't quite have it right.

"To ride a world record and not be right in the medals, it shows that the factoring system needs a bit of work, maybe a shout out to the UCI to look into that."

Van Gass, however, still has the mixed team relay on Sunday and the road race events to come next week.

"I need a good recovery," he said. "I didn't really sleep a lot last night, I was too excited. I need a good night's sleep, maybe a massage and we'll go again with the two others."

The 36-year-old British army veteran won the men's C3 3,000m individual pursuit final on Friday - just one week after his Games were in doubt when he was hit by a car during training.

Earlier, GB's former C1 world champion Fran Brown failed to make it through qualifying for the women's C1-3 500m time trial.

Brown, on her Paralympic debut, could only finish eighth fastest with the top six progressing to the medal races.

It was also bad news for Blaine Hunt, who was unable to follow up his C4-5 time trial silver from Friday.

Hunt, 35, failed to reach the medal races in the C5 4,000m pursuit after coming seventh in qualifying.