Storey kicked things off for ParalympicsGB on Wednesday morning by extending her record as Great Britain’s most decorated Paralympian.
An astonishing 32 years on from her Paralympic debut at Barcelona in 1992, Storey won by 4.69 seconds from France’s Heidi Gaugain, 27 years Storey’s junior.
Gaugain, 19, was born in November 2004 – by then Storey had already won 16 Paralympic meals, all of which came in Para-Swimming.
She subsequently switched to Para-Cycling and Wednesday’s win means she now has 29 Paralympic medals in all.
Her 18th Paralympic gold puts her among a group of six Paralympic athletes who have won that many.
Storey’s victory came on what she described as an “appalling” course which was just 14.1km long.
It was her first race under 22km in the event at the Paralympics, which she has now won for five straight Games.
“It’s a short race. This is the shortest Paralympic time trial we have ever had, and I think it’s a real shame because we don’t get to showcase Para-sport in the way we want to,” Storey said.
“I’ve had to put that aside and focus on what I could control, because I couldn’t control the race distance. But I hope they never do this to the women again, because it has been appalling.”
Storey is back in action on Friday in the road race, looking to pick up her 19th gold medal.
Elsewhere in road cycling, Fran Brown completed a successful morning for ParalympicsGB with a silver medal in women’s C1-3 time trial.
Brown later posted on social media that on Sunday, she had been hit by a car during her preparations for Wednesday’s final and suffered a dislocated shoulder.
In the afternoon session, Sophie Unwin and Lora Fachie won sivler and bronze respectively in the women’s B individual time trial behind Ireland’s Katie-George Dunlevy, who won her country’s first gold medal of the Paralympics.
Great Britain now have 18 cycling medals at the Paralympics, with swimming being the only sport in which more medals have been won.