TeamSA: Twitter
South Africa’s Pieter du Preez has brought more gold medal glory to Team South Africa at the Paralympics in Tokyo.
Du Preez won the gold medal in the men’s H1 cycling time trial at the Fuji Speedway circuit on Tuesday, bringing South Africa’s medal-tally to four with three gold’s.
Du Preez narrowly averted a collision with a para-cyclist on the first of two 8-kilometre loops and went on to win in 43 minutes 49.41 seconds.
The Italian Fabrizio Cornegliani crossed the line a distant 1:55:15 later in second place and Maxime Hordies took the bronze at 3:11.82 off the pace.
According to Team SA, Du Preez came into the event with nothing but confidence, and although he competes in the road race on Wednesday, the time-trial is the one in which he’d stacked the cards.
”To blast my competitors the way I did today is nothing short of a miracle, I did this for all the real H1s and hopefully we will get more events for us in the Paris 2024 Paralympics. This medal is for everyone out there,” Du Preez said.
