Tanni Grey-Thompson became Great Britain's most successful Paralympian of all time yesterday after storming to her second gold medal of the Paralympic Games in Athens.

The Welsh wheelchair racer led the T53m 400 metres final from start to finish and retained her Sydney title in a Paralympic record time of 57.36 seconds.

Grey-Thompson, already a 100m gold medallist, has now eclipsed fencer Caz Walton's record of ten career Paralympic gold medals with her 11th golden success.

''I'm lost for words. There are just so many emotions running around in my head right now. It was a great race,'' she said.

Grey-Thompson, who never eats before a race, had to wake up 5am as she had to be at the Olympic Stadium at least two hours before the race.

The 35-year-old said the early start had been a struggle and the tears of joy as she crossed the finish line were testament to the relief at pulling off her victory.

''I was so nervous this morning because I really struggled to warm up, I just couldn't get my arms moving.

''But after the semi I had a great lane draw, I was so lucky to be in between Madelene Nordlund and Francesca Porcellato. Francesca's got a great start and she pulled me along to a fast first 150m.

''When I got to the halfway point I still couldn't see who was around me so I just had my head down and went for it.

''When I crossed the finish line I did cry and that's not unusual for me.

''I was really surprised, I was expecting it to be a lot closer. It's probably one of my best 400m races and it's great to have done that at the Paralympics.''

Her hopes of a double success were dashed last night when she finished fourth in the mixed category T54 200m race.

Canada's Chantal Peticlerc was in a class of her own and eased home.

Grey-Thompson is unsure about whether she will aim to continue her remarkable success in four years time in Beijing.

She admitted: ''Right now I'd say yes, definitely, but when I get to the reality of winter training I may have second thoughts.

"It's a decision for the whole family and I haven't got a clue whether I can do it or not.''

While Thompson finished outside the medals last night, Teesside's Ken Churchill enjoyed more Paralympic joy.

He smashed his own world record by one and half metres en route to retaining his javelin title, which he has now won in three successive Paralympics.

The Middlesborough athlete, who suffers from cerebral palsy, threw 48.09m in his first attempt of the F37 class event, and it proved more than enough to hold off Australian Kieran Ault, whose best throw was 45.77m.

The Australian cheekily tried to put Churchill off his aim by suggesting he was going to take his title.

''I feel brilliant. I was all worked up at the start because I've been sitting around for a week but I'm all calm and relaxed now,'' said the 34-year-old. ''The Aussie guy tried to wind me up a bit I think by saying he was going to beat me but it worked to my advantage because I went out and threw a great first javelin.''

Stephen Payton produced a season's best time of 52.32secs to claim bronze in the T38 400m.

Britain remain second in the medals table behind China after winning 93 medals in total - 35 of which are gold.