Four years of heartbreak were destroyed in just over a minute last night as Walpole St Andrew Paralympic star Jody Cundy grabbed gold in the C4/5 1km time trial.

The 37-year-old smashed the Paralympic record as he cycled home in a time of 1min 04.194 seconds in the Olympic Velodrome in Rio de Janeiro.

He began the race in his trademark powerful style and punched the air with delight as he secured the medal that will surely banish all the demons from London 2012.

Cundy, riding last, fought off stiff competition from compatriot Jon-Allan Butterworth, who finished in fourth place, Jozef Metelka of Slovakia and Spain’s Alfonso Cabello to clinch his sixth Paralympic gold.

“It took a lot of energy to get to this point,” said Cundy. “This day has been on my mind for four years; ever since I kicked off in London and started throwing things about.

“I’ve tried to put the past to the back of head in the last few days, but I was so nervous and that really hurt and I’m just glad that’s over. I’m properly pleased and I’m totally exhausted. To do it on the big stage was important but I would have liked to win in a personal best.

“It wasn’t my perfect race, but it was the race that took me to my Paralympic gold. I was quicker than all my competitors. You didn’t even need to use the factoring to win, so I’m properly pleased about that. I just wanted to make sure the time I did was quicker than everybody else and then I knew I was pretty good, so that was cool.”

Cundy will join forces with Butterworth in his bid for a seventh gold medal in the 750m team sprint tomorrow.