SILVER for Barley

54 seconds behind the winner, Rafal Wilk, Nigel Barley was thrilled to clock in at 26:18:34 in the 16k H3 hand cycle race to win the Silver Medal.

“I’m pretty blown away by it really,” he said. “Everyone came here on fire and in the best shape of their life and we just rode and (I placed second) so I’m a bit speechless really.”

The WAIS athlete did a lot of hill training this year and with his constant improvements, shouldn’t be so surprised by his result. 

“Our prep was a lot of hills,” he said. “We knew this course was very, very hilly.

“We came for the training day and thought this is going to be a light man’s course and I dropped a few kilos when I went back home which was advantageous,” he said.  “In Europe I was 65 kilos and now I’m 61.”

Barley won at the World Cup in Spain and headed back to Perth in good form but was unsure if he could peak to that level again for London.

“I didn’t really have any expectation,” he said. “I thought we haven’t had any racing and they hadn’t had any racing and had no way to see their results and they had no way to see mine .

“I just went out to do the best I could and that’s what happened, the rest took care of itself.”

A Silver Medal for Barley, and to top it all off, partner Veronica and daughter Tahlia were trackside to support him.