Silver Sammi is no more.

“Gosh, it would be amazing to win a gold medal,” she told the BBC on Tuesday after finishing second in the 1500m. She didn’t have to wait long to experience that feeling.

The enthusiasm with which she rang the victory bell at the Stade de France was an indication of how exciting and emotional it was to upgrade her medal collection.

“I cried the whole time during my victory lap, just cried,” she said.

“Tokyo was my first Paralympic medal, but with no one in the stands and that was quite heartbreaking for me. I have 29 people there with posters of my face. To do it in front of all those people is so incredibly special because even though it’s an individual sport, I have a huge team behind me.”

Kinghorn was 14 when she broke her back in 2010 in an accident on her family’s farm, when snow and ice fell from the roof and she was crushed.

She spent six months in Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital before being told she would never walk again.

“When I had my accident, my body was completely broken down. I built it back up through training and that was something that helped me accept this new me,” she said.

“My physiotherapist at the spine unit in Glasgow, without her I wouldn’t be here now. She saw something in me. I always loved sport, before my accident, and she got me trying lots of different sports.

“I was going to try wheelchair racing and Ian Thompson, Tanni-Grey Thompson’s husband, said to me, ‘Oh, you could be good at this.’ That was an instant change. I had just had something really traumatic happen to me and I didn’t know if I would ever be good at anything again. I remember thinking, ‘OK, great, I’m going to do that.'”

Kinghorn’s first Paralympic gold follows three world titles, the most recent of which came in the 100 metres in Paris last year, when she beat Debrunner.

There could be more medals for both in Paris. After the 400m on Thursday, Kinghorn has the 4x100m universal relay on Friday, while Debrunner, incredibly, will run the marathon on Sunday.