PARALYMPIC WORLD CUP
Venue: Manchester Dates: 20-25 May Coverage: Listen on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra 1415-1615 BST on Friday; Watch live swimming plus highlights from elsewhere on BBC Two, 1500-1715 BST, Monday 25 May; Daily reports on the BBC Sport website

Queally and Kappes cannot compete in Paralympic competition until 2010

Jason Queally joined Anthony Kappes to set a new British tandem record as he took the first step in his quest to win Paralympic gold at London 2012.

Queally won gold in Sydney in 2000 and aims to become the first person to win both Olympic and Paralympic titles.

The duo covered 1km in 1 minute 01.626 seconds, breaking the open record - for able-bodied and disability athletes.

Paralympic tandem racing involves a full-sighted pilot, with a visually impaired partner.

Queally is ineligible to compete in mainstream Paralympic events until 2010, two years after he last competed in an able-bodied event but Friday's record attempt was a special event as part of the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

The time was a second faster than that recorded by Kappes and Barney Storey in winning Paralympic gold in Beijing last September and beat the previous record of 1'02.008 set by Kappes and his former partner Jon Norfolk at last year's Paralympic World Cup.

"That was the first time I had done a competitive tandem kilo and it was just as hard as a solo kilo ride," Queally told BBC Sport afterwards.

606: DEBATE Discuss the action at the Paralympic World Cup

"I just love riding my bike and at 39, I'm not good enough to be on the able-bodied elite team, but getting involved with the Paralympic set-up has enabled me to continue riding.

"I've been involved with the sport for 12 or 13 years but riding the tandem is a new experience for me and Anthony has been a huge help to me because it is different to riding solo on the track."

Kappes, who won double gold in Beijing, was delighted with the time on their home Manchester Velodrome track.

"We had a bad start and the first half of the opening lap was a bit ropey," he admitted. "But once we settled down, we knew what we had to do and it was a lot of fun.

"Jason has taken control of a lot of the training that I do and in the kilo you hit it hard and we want to try to master that event first and I think we can go faster.

"We now want to find out what the world record is and try to target that - we think it is hidden away in the record books somewhere but beating that is our next aim."

There has been criticism in some quarters that an Olympic medallist like Queally can switch to Paralympic events, but the Chorley athlete remains focussed on the job in hand.

"I'm fortunate that the rules allow me to do this and I know some people think it is unfair that I can compete at Paralympic level but I hope I can give things back to Paralympic sport," he said

"I never would have dreamed I would be in with a chance of competing in a home Games and at the end of the day there could be a Paralympic gold medal for me."

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