Italy's Alessandro Zanardi heads to victory in the men's individual H4 time trial cycling final during the London Paralympic Games on Wednesday. Leon Neal / Agence France-Presse

Former motor sports driver Zanardi wins Paralympic gold in 'magical adventure', Reuters reports.

Former Formula One driver Alex Zanardi, who lost his legs after a horrific crash in 2001, enjoyed a golden finale to his "magical adventure" by winning the Paralympic men's individual H4 handcycling time trial on Wednesday.

At the Brands Hatch circuit, former host of the British Formula One Grand Prix, the 45-year-old Italian blitzed to gold over the 16km course in 24 min, 50.22 sec.

Zanardi finished more than 27 seconds ahead of German Norbert Mosandl, with American Oscar Sanchez taking bronze.

"This is a great accomplishment, one of the greatest of my life," Zanardi said. "I worked very hard to get here. It was great to live such an experience at 45."

Zanardi had both legs amputated above the knee after crashing in the Champ Car series in 2001.

The Italian was leading a race at Germany's Lausitz track when he lost control of his red Reynard-Honda in the final laps and Canadian driver Alex Tagliani ran into him at more than 350 kph (220 mph).

Earning praise for his recovery, he returned to racing only a year and a half after the crash and continued in the World Touring Car championships until 2009, by which time he had taken up handcycling.

"Three years ago I stopped motor racing, at age 42," he said.

"It seemed a stupid thing to do to drop everything. It was against all odds. But it's not the first crazy thing I did in life. In the end I was right.

"You should not chase pipedreams, but if you have a horizon to look into, happiness is just around the corner."

Zanardi was a former track record holder at Brands Hatch in the Formula 3000 category but admitted the circuit was hillier than he remembered.

"With an engine pushing me, I didn't realize it was so hilly. It was very hard, but if I had to design a course, this is what I would have done. It is beautiful, hard ... it suits my charcteristics of an old man," he said.

"When you are 40, you appreciate what you do every day. I enjoyed every day of training. I've had a magical adventure and this is a fantastic conclusion."

All the Paralympic road cycling events will take place at Brands Hatch, Kent, 32 km south east of the Olympic Stadium.

It began as a grass track for cycle racing in 1928. It staged the British F1 Grand Prix for the first time in 1976 and the last time in 1986.

Other highlights

Zanardi's performance was a highlight of a day that also saw Britain's Sarah Storey win the women's individual C5 time-trial over 16km to give her a third gold after double success on the track and the 10th in her Games career.

There were more medals for other multiple Paralympic medalists, including the most-decorated male Paralympian, Jonas Jacobsson, of Sweden, who shot his way to the 17th gold of his stellar career at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

The 47-year-old has won 30 medals of all colors since making his debut nine Games ago in Arnhem, the Netherlands, in 1980.

At the Olympic Stadium, meanwhile, Britain's world record holder Jonnie Peacock fired a warning shot to his 100m rivals, including South Africa's Oscar Pistorius, as the finalists were determined for the Games' showpiece sprint.

The 19-year-old, who lowered the world best to 10.85 sec in June, clocked 11.08 sec in his T44 heat for leg amputee runners, equaling the Paralympic record that has stood for eight years - then warned he would run faster.

"It was a bad wind, a big wind: 1.6. I'll be a bit quicker in the final," he said.

Defending champion Pistorius, making a return to the track for the first time since his sensational 200m defeat on Sunday and controversial comments about the fairness of his rivals' artifical prostheses, ran a season's best of 11.19 sec.

Pistorius later exacted a degree of revenge on Brazilian Alan Oliveira, who beat him in the 200m final, as he beat him in the anchor leg of the T42-46 4x100m relay for single and double below-the-knee amputees and upper limb amputees, which South Africa won in a world record of 41.78 sec.

(China Daily 09/07/2012 page23)