Veteran Jaco Van Gass wins five medals at Para-Cycling Track World Championships
Former Parachute Regiment soldier Jaco Van Gass has won five medals overall at the ICU Para-Cycling Track World Championships in Rio De Janeiro.
The ex-soldier, who was injured whilst serving in Afghanistan in 2009, kicked off his campaign on Friday by winning gold in the men's C3 individual pursuit.
A Paralympic gold medallist in this event, Van Gass beat out reigning world champion and teammate Fin Graham to take the title for the first time.
Van Gass then went on to win the silver medal in the men's C3 time-trial, beating out teammate Graham once again who took bronze respectively.
In Sunday's final day, Van Gass competed in the C1-5 mixed team sprint alongside teammates Kadeena Cox and Blaine Hunt, where he bagged another silver.
In his final event, he finished his world championships in style by winning the men's C3 scratch race, which also secured the omnium title to make it his third gold medal and his third rainbow jersey of the championships.
After the event, Van Gass spoke to British Cycling where he described his success as "phenomenal".
He said: "It's phenomenal. It blows my mind sometimes, especially this competition.
"I went into the scratch tied on points with the New Zealand rider [Devon Briggs], with Fin a few points behind us. It was so tight, so I was monitoring it, I had a busy day with two team sprints in my legs, so I really didn’t know what to expect.
"I always race hard, so I thought I’d give it a go, a great opportunity came up to attempt a lap and it came off. I’m very pleased and very happy and it’s three more to the collection."
Over the five-day event, Great Britain have won 13 gold, 13 silver and 5 bronze medals to top the overall medal table, underlining Britain's strength in para-cycling in what is a Paralympic year.
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