By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year

August 27 - Britain is on track to achieve its goal of finishing among the top two nations at the London 2012 Paralympics with it already well on way to achieving the medal target it was set for this year by UK Sport, thanks to the likes of cyclist Sarah Storey and swimmer Ellie Simmonds (pictured).



The Government agency, the biggest distributor of National Lottery funding, had set Paralympic sport in Britain target of winning between 65 and 99 medals in all events at this year's major international events.

With several events still to take place the total already stands at 69.

The winners have included Storey, a double gold medallist at the recent World Paracycling Road Championships in Baie-Comeau, Canada, and Simmonds, who claimed four titles at the International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven, where Britain finished with a total of 16 gold medals.

Those performances have been backed-up by the four medals won by the visually impaired judo squad and three medals won by the disability sailing squad at their respective 2010 World Championships, where, in both cases, targets were exceeded.

Peter Keen (pictured), the Director of Performance at UK Sport, claimed that the successes are encouraging for London 2012, especially with "Two Years to Go" landmark approaching on Sunday (August 29).

He said: "Two years out from the start of the Paralympic Games in London, it is fantastic to see so many Paralympic sports meeting and even exceeding their own targets, which have been agreed with UK Sport for the current season.

"With sports like adaptive rowing and para-equestrian dressage still to compete in their milestone events for 2010, we’re confident that Paralympic sport in the UK is in a great position to succeed in 2012."

Britain finished second in the medals at the last Paralympics in Beijing.

They won a total of 102 medals, 42 of them gold.

China came top with 211 medals, 89 of them gold, and are again expected to dominate at London in 2012.

But Keen is confident that Britain will push China head.

He said: "While the aim is to retain second place in the Paralympic medal table in 2012, our ambition is to see more medals across more sports than in Beijing.

"Our Mission 2012 dialogue with the sports has highlighted opportunities to squeeze out every last drop of potential.

"To achieve this we have made a real step-change in the current cycle towards adding value to our investment in Paralympic sports, particularly in areas such as talent identification and transfer, coach development and research and innovation."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]