Weir doubled his gold tally with victory in the men’s T54 1500 metres in 3min 10.34sec, a race that again saw wheelchair racers crashing across the track.

 

The Londoner had to fight hard to recover after being boxed in on the penultimate lap but in the end it came down to a straight sprint between him and 5,000m gold medallist Prawat Wahoram of Thailand as his Australian rival Kurt Fearnley was involved in a crash 550 metres from the finish.

 

Weir said: “It’s sweet to have two.

 

"I’m over the moon.

 

"I only wanted one gold and now I’ve got two.

 

"I’m just overwhelmed really.

 

"It’s the blue-ribbon event for wheelchair racing, so everyone wants to win the 1500m.”

 

After starting the Games with a cold, Weir has now taken four medals from four events.

 

He said: “At the start of the week, I didn’t think I was going to get any medals, as my body was aching.

 

"The doctors just really looked after me and everyone at UK Athletics has backed me throughout everything that’s happened.

 

"They have been fantastic.

 

“Today I still didn’t feel right when I woke up.

 

"But I was screaming at the TV watching Mickey Bushell back at the [Athletes] Village, which really woke me up.

 

"Then I saw Shelly get silver during warm up and thought I’ve got to get out there now and get another medal.”

 

Weir is due to race the marathon tomorrow morning, but said he may reconsider after a grueling nine days.

 

He said: “I'll go back to the Village and see how I feel in the morning about whether to start the marathon.

 

"I’ll need to get up at 5am and that’s a bit mad.

 

"It wasn’t the marathon I came for, it was the track.

 

“The team management and my doctor Noel Pollock are cool, whatever my decision.

 

"They are 100 per cent behind me.”

 

Weir, who had earlier won the 800m, impressed the watching London Mayor Boris Johnson.

 

He said: “David has had a fantastic Beijing Games and his achievement is up there with the great athletic performances of Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Dame Kelly Holmes at previous Games not to mention our Team GB cycling team.

 

"David has displayed incredible stamina over 13 gruelling races and should rightly be very proud."

 

Just over an hour earlier Woods clinched silver in the equivalent women’s final to add the 100th medal to Britain's total Games tally.

 

“Really?” she said when told afterwards.

 

“That’s pretty cool.

 

"I’m so happy to win silver.

 

"I’d love to win gold but if someone had said to me before the Games I’d take home a silver and a bronze I’d never have believed them.”

 

Woods’ race took place in the pouring rain as front-runners fought for a good position.

 

The 22-year-old from Blackpool played it perfectly to finish the race in a head-to-head battle with Switzerland’s Edith Hunkerler.

 

Woods beat her by the width of her tyre posting 3:40.99.

 

Canada’s Chantal Petitclerc stormed home to win her 13th Paralympic gold in 3:39.88 at her third Games, her fifth in Beijing.

 

Woods said: “I’ve really grown in confidence at these Games and I did my thing one race at a time.

 

“In the call room people were really nervous about the rain but it was like typical British weather and actually I was quietly confident.

 

“It’s an honour to race against Chantal, she’s been at the top for 10 years and is one of my heroes.

 

"I’d love to emulate some of her performances in the future.

 

“The support staff here have done such a great job, they’ve helped me through the ups and downs to get me where I am now.”

 

Wheelchair sprinter Mickey Bushell flew to an unexpected silver in the T53 100m after leading the race most of the way.

 

He was pipped for gold only by the United States' Josh George.

 

Bushell eclipsed the personal best he set this morning by nearly half-a-second in 14.86.

 

The 18-year-old said: “It feels fantastic.

 

"I can’t believe I got silver.

 

"I’m a bit shocked.

 

"I was out in lane eight so I just had to concentrate on my own race but I had the best start ever. I’ve done two PBs [personal bests] so I’m really chuffed.

 

“A year ago if someone had said I’d get a silver I would have thought they were crazy.”

 

Ian Jones ran a strong first half of the T44 400m but tired towards the end to finish with the bronze medal in 51.69, a season’s best time. South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius yet again dominated to take the gold and world record in 47.49.

 

It was his third gold medal of these Games for the the man nicknamed the "Blade Runner".

 

Hazel Simpson added a second bronze to her collection in the T36 100m final running 15.40 in a race that saw gold medallist Wang Fang dominate to set a world record of 13.82.

 

The Sunderland sprinter said: “I‘m delighted to get two medals.

 

“I don’t even feel that tired yet. I can’t believe it.

 

"I just tried to stay strong and keep running on my tiptoes.

 

"I’m looking forward to watching the marathon tomorrow and I can’t wait for the closing ceremony.”

 

The athletics concludes tomorrow with the marathon races with Woods, Weir and Brian Alldis in action for the last time.

 

The total of 42 gold medals is Britain's best Paralympic performance for 20 years and arguably its best ever as the standard of competition is so much higher now.

 

While Britain were breaking through the century to retain their second place overall in the medals table hosts China underlined their total domination of the event as they finished the last full day of competition on a total of 207 medals, 87 of them gold.