Paralympic champion Sarah Storey dropped from Olympic pursuit team

Sarah Storey will not get the chance to become Britain's first Paralympic and Olympic athlete after being dropped from the women's team pursuit squad.

Storey, 34, helped Britain to gold at last week's World Cup event in Colombia, but was told she had not done enough.

"I collected my bags in Manchester and before heading home was told my performance in Cali was not as good as they were looking for," she said.

"So this is the end of the journey for me with the GB pursuit team."

Storey, who has won five swimming gold medals and two in cycling at the Paralympics, had teamed up with Laura Trott and Wendy Houvenaghel to win in Cali.

Trott and Houvenaghel - along with Dani King - were victorious at the World Championship in March, and GB Cycling have been trying out possible combinations in the build-up to next summer's Olympic Games.

Storey made her debut for Great Britain at the Manchester leg of the World Cup in February, helping the team break the British record along the way.

But with Houvenaghel, Trott, King and Joanna Rowsell also battling for the three team pursuit places, GB Cycling has decided to narrow the field going into 2012 by dropping Storey.

"I have always said that London 2012 is about riding as many events as I am good enough for and so now it is important for me to concentrate on the other events I have at the Games," Storey added on her website.

"Selection for the Paralympic Games will be made on 20 June, so my priorities don't really change a great deal as I have to concentrate on trying to get selected for and defend the two gold medals I won in Beijing [at the 2008 Olympics].

"I always said the team pursuit was another opportunity to become the best athlete I could be and it would be a bonus if I was able to make the event work alongside the events in which I am paracycling world champion.

"As with any team event the squad has to work to get the fastest three riders on the start line in the Olympic final and in the eyes of the selectors I am not able to contribute to this process any longer."

Storey, who was was born without a left hand, won two gold medals in swimming as a 14-year-old at the 1992 Paralympics and will now concentrate on a possible five cycling events at the Paralympic Games.