Golden girl Giglia vows to return stronger at Tokyo 2020

STRATFORD’S Megan Giglia has pledged to return even stronger following her stunning success at the Rio Paralympics.

Giglia won Great Britain’s first gold medal of the Games with victory in the C1-3 3,000m race in Brazil.

After breaking her own world record in her semi-final, Giglia saw off American Jamie Whitmore to claim gold in the final.

The 31-year-old, who had a brain haemorrhage at 27, has now added a gold medal to her two world titles.

And after missing out on three further medal opportunities in the 500m time trial, C1-3 road time trial and C1-3 road race in Brazil, Giglia has vowed to build on her Rio achievements at the Tokyo Paralympics in four years’ time.

“My age doesn’t bother me at all,” said Giglia, who will be 35 when the Tokyo Games begin in 2020.

“When the next Paralympics comes round I’ll have had six-and-a-half years on the bike and I think I’ll be in my best shape.

“In the road I’m not far off — I just need to build a bigger engine. I’ve now got four years until Tokyo and I’m going straight back on the bike to work on my power.”

The GB team arrived back from Rio to jubilant scenes when they landed at London Heathrow on Tuesday.

Like their Olympic counterparts last month, the team were flown home on the gold-nosed British Airways flight BA2016 named ‘victorRIOus’.

Giglia added: “It was an absolute buzz. You jump off the plane and it’s just mental.

“You have crowds of people jumping and cheering. Part of you thinks... ‘I just want my bed,’ but on the other hand you just have to enjoy it all while you can.”