Agony and ecstasy of being the champ

HIS decision to swap the pool for the velodrome now looks to have been the best decision Jody Cundy has ever made, after he won gold and set a new world record at the Paralympic World Cycling Championships, in Switzerland.

Jody, from Walpole St Andrew, produced the historic performance on Tuesday, when he set a time of 1:10.530 in the LC2 1km time trial event, and set his second world record of the year.

The former Paralympic gold medalist swimming star made the move to cycling less than 12 months ago and almost immediately, Jody, 27, was putting in impressive performances at national level.

In May, he set a new national record before breaking the world record in the team sprint event at the Visa Paralympic World Cup, in Manchester.

Now, Jody has set his first individual world cycling record but he admits that it was a surprise. He said: "I didn't really expect to break the world record but I knew that my form was getting better.

"It was just a question of whether I could hold it together for five laps."

Things did not start well for Jody and he had to compose himself after he had a false start and fell out of the starting gate on his first attempt.

He said: "I have never wheel-spun out of the gate and fallen flat on my face before but on my second start, I held back and took it easy out of the gate.

"The first pedal stroke wasn't that hard but I tried to nail it after that. It was painful and there was nothing left but I still feel that I didn't give it my all."

In the time trial event, each rider has just one shot at setting their best time and with Jody cycling fifth in a field of 16, he had an agonising wait watching the other competitors' attempts before he could celebrate victory.

He said: "That's the most nerve-wracking half-hour I have ever had. Words really can't express how I feel at the moment but I am over the moon.