Key events
In badminton, GB’s Jack Shephard and Rachel Choong have taken group-play singles wins in three sets each. They’re supposed to play together in mixed doubles today as well, but the schedule is showing that match as “rescheduled.” It’s getting a little late, isn’t it? (I say this as someone who’ll be playing in a band past midnight Eastern time tonight.)
Another world record has held up as a winning effort in a field event, and it seems as if this one took place several hours ago.
Poland’s Rosa Kozakowska held the previous F32 club throw record at 28.77 meters. She broke that mark, the 29-meter mark, the 30-meter mark and the 31-meter mark on her first throw – 31.30 meters.
The competition has finally concluded after nearly four hours, and give credit to Tunisia’s Maroua Ibrahmi for also breaking the previous record with a throw of exactly 29 meters.
We’ve also had two men’s shot put events taking place simultaneously. In the F55 class (seated, athletes with limb or muscle impairment), world record-holder Ruzhdi Ruzhdi of Bulgaria has reclaimed his Olympic champion status that he first won in 2016 but lost with a silver-medal finish in Tokyo.
The F37 class (standing, coordination impairment) has just finished, with Uzbekistan’s Kudratillokhon Marufkhujaev winning by a mile. Well, a meter. To be precise, 0.97 meters.
Seven-time Paralympian David Weir (GB) has won the second heat of the men’s T54 5,000m, featuring many of the world’s best wheelchair racers.
Weir only needed to finish in the top five to advance, but he held off Thailand’s Saichon Konjen by 0.004 seconds anyway.
The USA’s Daniel Romanchuk was third and will also advance, but Aaron Pike – whose longtime partner, Oksana Masters, has 17 Paralympic medals between the Summer and Winter Games – did not make it to the final.
In the first heat, US racer Brian Siemann passed Australia’s Samuel Rizzo down the stretch to claim the fifth and final spot available in the final. GB’s Daniel Sidbury did not finish.
That’s all for today’s action from the track, but we still have some action in the field.
China win 11th gold medal
Liu Jing and Xue Juan have won the WD5 women’s doubles table tennis final, defeating top-seeded Seo Su Yeon and Yoon Jiyu of South Korea 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9.
China win 10th gold medal
As expected, Di Dongdong’s world-record jump held up for gold in the men’s T11 long jump. That’s China’s 10th gold medal. Chen Shichang took silver – China’s 23rd medal overall. Spain’s Joan Munar Martinez came up big on his last jump to prevent a Chinese sweep.
A bit earlier, Huang Wenjuan and Jin Yucheng won the WD14 women’s double table tennis final for China’s ninth gold.
Three field events are still in progress, and we still have four gold medal bouts in taekwondo – three of them involving athletes from Türkiye.
About that first USA gold medal …
A few words from Gia Pergolini:
Today in archery …
Defending women’s compound gold medalist Phoebe Paterson Pine of Team GB won the highest-scoring match in the round of 32 (or, in international parlance, the 1/16 finals) today, defeating Ecuador’s Diana Gonzabay Guzman 142-141. The Ecuadorian archer’s score would’ve won 10 of the other 11 matches.
Australia’s Ameera Lee and Melissa-Anne Taylor also advanced.
Defending men’s champion He Zihao won his 1/16-final matchup, as did both US archers (Matt Stutzman, Kevin Polish), GB’s Nathan Macqueen and Australia’s Jonathon Milne.
Australia have held on to defeat France 55-53 in wheelchair rugby.
That result gives Australia a 1-1 record in pool play and probably the inside track on taking second place in the group and a semifinal spot. France are also 1-1 but must finish against 2-0 GB. Australia finished against Denmark, which have lost both their games but by just two points each.
The USA are also in good shape despite today’s loss. They finish pool play against Germany, which have lost their two games by a combined 18 points. If Japan take care of business against Canada, the USA will sail through in second place.
If Canada upset Japan, or if France upset GB, chaos reigns.
That’s it from the pool, but there are still four gold medals in play in field events and four more in taekwondo.
There’s also an extraordinary amount of boccia to be played.
China take gold in mixed 4x50m free 20-point relay
The Chinese anchor, Guo Jincheng, may not have taken a breath.
Ellie Marks stayed well ahead of the pack for her third silver of the Games. She has nearly half of the USA’s medals so far in Paris.
Ellie Marks will try to win gold after her two individual silvers. She’s 0.29 seconds back.
At the halfway point, it’s China, USA, Spain.
Ukraine take a massive lead at 50 meters, but given the way teams can order their swimmers, that may not mean much.
In fact, that lead is almost gone.
Australia’s team is Grant Patterson, Ahmed Kelly, Holly Warn and Chloe Osborn.
They’re underway …
Relay time!
In this event, the 4x50m freestyle relay (20 points), the swimmer’s classifications in the team must add up to 20 points or less. For example – the US team have Leanne Smith (S3), Zach Shattuck (S6), former Refugee Team swimmer Abbas Karimi (S5) and Ellie Marks (S6). Add that up: 3+6+5+6=20.
Also, each team has two men and two women.
China’s Di Dongdong sets world record in long jump
The T11 (visual impairment) record, held for 10 years by the USA’s Lex Gillette, tumbled on Di’s fourth attempt, when he recorded a leap of 6.85 meters.
Each of the six jumpers in the final has two jumps remaining.
While we await the last event of the evening in the pool – the mixed 4x50m relay – this may be a good time to check out the tribulations, both expected and unexpected, that a pair of athletes endured before winning gold today:
Silver medal for GB’s Brock Whiston in the women’s SB8 100m breaststroke. The world record-holder finished 1.29 seconds behind Spain’s Anastasiya Dmytriv Dmytriv.
Neutral Paralympic Athlete Andrei Kalina won the men’s race. He holds the world record in the SB8 class. The SB7 class was folded into the SB8 class this year, which is how Colombia’s Carlos Daniel Serrano Zarate bested his own Paralympic record and took bronze.
In wheelchair rugby, France have chipped away at Australia’s lead, coming back from a four-point deficit after the first quarter to get within one.
China’s Wen Xiaoyan sets Paralympic record to win the women’s T37 200m.
That was never in doubt. By the time the runners came off the bend, Wen was far out in front in this discipline featuring athletes with coordination impairment.
The heartbreak involved the podium places, where the USA’s Taylor Swanson was in medal position through much of the race but fell forward onto the track with about 20 meters to run.
Swanson is 31 but only started competing in Para sports in 2022. She’s also entered in the 100m here.
Quick note from tennis: Team GB’s Ben Bartram and Dahnon Ward have advanced in straight sets in men’s singles.
So … many … records …
I’ve tried to keep up with all the world and Paralympic records set today, but surely a few have escaped me. Here are a few of them, starting with four from Team GB:
In PR3 mixed coxed fours, Francesca Allen, Giedre Rakauskaite, Josh O’Brien, Ed Fuller and coxswain Erin Kennedy set a world and Paralympic best.
Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson did the same in PR2 mixed doubles sculls.
Benjamin Pritchard beat the existing Paralympic best by more than 13 seconds to win his heat in the men’s PR1 single sculls. He’ll face the holder of the world best, Ukraine’s Roman Polianskyi, in the final, along with anyone who advances from the repechage.
In cycling, Jaco van Gass set a new world record in the men’s C3 3,000m individual pursuit qualifying. Then for the second straight Games, he defeated teammate Finlay Graham in the final.
Australia’s Emily Petricola set a world record in women’s C4 3,000m individual pursuit qualifying, then caught New Zealand’s Anna Taylor to win the gold-medal race without even needing the whole 3,000 meters. (C4: Athletes with prosthetics or mildly limited limb mobility.)
Fellow Australian Korey Boddington set a C4 Paralympic record in qualifying for the men’s C4-5 1,000m time trial, then won the final.
Brazil’s Júlio César Agripino took more than five seconds off the world record in the men’s T11 (vision impairment) 5,000m.
Colombia’s Jose Gregorio Lemos smashed his own world and Paralympic records with a throw of 63.81m in the men’s F38 (coordination impairment) javelin. That’s his second gold in Paris.
Ukraine’s Iryna Shchetnik shot a 627.5 for a Paralympic record in women’s SH1 10m air rifle. That’s an average of 10.45 per shot, with no shot worse than 10.1. She holds the world record at 629.2. But she was off the mark in the final, with three of her 20 shots missing the 10-ring, to take fourth. India’s Avani Lekhara took gold.
Also in shooting, France’s Tanguy de La Forest barely missed his world record of 638.7 and instead set the new Paralympic mark of 638.2 in mixed SH3 10m air rifle. He took silver in the final.
Israel’s Moran Samuel posted a 9:58.02 Paralympic best in women’s PR1 single sculls.
Gia Pergolini claims USA’s first gold medal in the 2024 Paralympics
She won this event in 2021 at age 17, and while she was just shy of her world and Paralympic records (1:04.93 to 1:04.64), she claimed a convincing 2.34-second win. Ireland’s Roisin Ni Riain is the silver medalist, and Italy’s Carlotta Gilli has claimed her second medal of the Games after her gold yesterday.
Will this be the first US gold medal?
It’s the women’s S13 100m backstroke. Gia Pergolini has the record.
And she has a big lead halfway through.
Hello GB …
The last events of interest for the British audience today will be (in your home time zone):
19:21: Women’s SB8 100m breaststroke, with Brock Whiston qualifying in impressive fashion.
19:30: Claire Taggart in boccia pool play.
20:02: Two runners in the men’s T54 5,000m heats.
20:40: Two players in boccia pool play.
And maybe some more badminton. Jack Shephard is currently up one set to nil. Other than that, the schedule has gone all over the place.
Brazil’s Petrucio Ferreira dos Santos three-peats; USA’s Korban Best takes silver.
Dos Santos has dominated the men’s T47 (upper limb impairment) 100m for some time, but Best took off into an early lead. The Brazilian superstar ran him down to finish in 10.68, but Best held on for silver with a personal best of 10.75.
That’s the first non-swimming medal for the USA in this year’s Paralympics. Still no gold medals in any event.
Hello USA …
We’ll try to get back to the pool at 13:51 Eastern time, where the USA have two athletes in the women’s S13 100m backstroke final. They’ll also be in the mixed 4x50m freestyle (20 points) relay at 14:44.
13:57 Jaleen Roberts and Taylor Swanson in the women’s T37 200m final
15:02 Three runners in the men’s T54 5,000m heats.
Also some tennis players who’ve been waiting very patiently through the rain.
In the meantime, we have another medal to report …
Hello Australia …
For anyone following Australian athletes in the middle of the night, you’ll want to see the following (for synchronization purposes – it is currently 19:42 in Paris and 03:42 in Sydney):
In progress: Rosemary Little and Sarah Clifton-Bligh in the F32 club throw, and Australia lead France 14-12 in wheelchair rugby.
20:14 Paris time (or 30 minutes from now): Timothy Hodge in the men’s SB8 100m breaststroke.
20:44: Mixed 4x50m freestyle (20 classification points total) relay.
21:02: Samuel Rizzo in the men’s T54 5,000m heats.
Medalists in the pool …
It’s nice when they run men’s and women’s events in the same discipline back-to-back, if for no other reason than our ability to give commentary without repeating “SB9 100m breaststroke.”
Italy’s Stefano Raimondi repeated his gold-medal performance from Tokyo to win the men’s race, with France’s Hector Denayer and Germany’s Maurice Wetekam rounding out the podium.
The Netherlands’ Chantalle Zijderfeld has also gone back-to-back, finishing nearly three seconds behind her world and Paralympic record pace but comfortably ahead of China’s Zhang Meng and fellow Netherlands swimmer Lisa Kruger.
The action at the track is getting a little embarrassing.
We’re seeing the final for the men’s T11 long jump. T11 means “visually impaired.” The jumpers are reliant on assistants who stand at the edge of the runway and yell instructions.
That requires a bit of silence, as we see in goalball and soccer, where athletes are using their ears rather than their eyes.
The assistant for China’s Chen Shichang motioned for the crowd to be quiet while they prepared for his jump. Some of the spectators got the message, some didn’t.
Worse – the PA announcer decided this was the perfect time to blast his voice for the benefit of the whole stadium, and the crowd roared in response.
A very frustrated assistant trotted down the runway to tell Chen they were going to wait a bit.
He still managed the second-best jump so far. China, a Paralympic power, are positioned for a sweep at the moment, though it’s early.
Gold for Belgium’s Maxime Carabin in the men’s T52 (wheelchair) 400m. He wasn’t close to his world record of 52.00 but was a bit closer to the Paralympic record of 54.48 he set in qualifying. His time of 55.10 in these conditions is perfectly … well, golden.
The rain has subsided, it seems, and tennis has resumed on the outdoor courts at Roland Garros. Australia’s Anderson Parker is on the verge of leveling his match with Argentina’s Ezequiel Casco.
Hello from the USA, where the country’s citizens are celebrating a total of …
… zero gold medals.
Wait, really? That can’t be right.
(Checks results …)
Huh. Interesting. And we just saw a big favorite, Anastasia Pagonis, finish fourth in swimming.
The USA also have tough losses today in team sports, with the biggest shock being a 3-1 loss by the back-to-back defending champion women’s sitting volleyball team to China. The men’s goalball team dropped its group opener 13-8 to Brazil, while the wheelchair rugby team dropped a 45-42 decision to Japan despite 19 tries by the irrepressible Chuck Aoki and nine by Sarah Adam, the first US woman to play Paralympic wheelchair rugby.
How soon will that change? Over to the track we go …
(Or the pool …)
That’s my stint done on a golden day for ParalympicsGB, and now my colleague Beau Dure will offer a more Stateside angle.
The women’s S11 400m freestyle final sees twin sisters Scarlett and Eliza Humphrey in lanes seven and eight go for a medal, but they are lagging behind Lisette Bruinsma from the Netherlands, who is looking good for gold. The Humphreys unable to affect a race where China’s Zhang and Daria Lukianenko of the Neutral team follow in behind for silver and bronze.
By the way: David Kratochvil of Czech Republic won the gold medal in the men’s event.
Britain’s Beth Munro, who took silver in Tokyo, has rather surprisingly crashed out of the Taekwondo, falling short in the repechage, and with a significant following behind her in Paris too.
Ade Adepitan on the continuing ability of the Paralympics to put youth to the fore.
Maisie Summers-Newton wins medley gold for ParalympicsGB
Next, the women’s 200m individual SM6 medley: the American Ellie Marks is the leading swimmer but GB’s Maisie Summers-Newton is up there. And she leads through the breaststroke leg, and the rest of the medals are up for grabs. China’s Liu is in second, and Marks in third. Summers-Newton demolishes the field and retains her title. What a swim that was. The rest had no answer.
China’s Wang leads early on, with Bruce Dee quite a way back as they enter the second half of the race. He’s in seventh, and Yang Hong is ahead of Crispin with Dee in fourth as they enter the freestyle leg. Yang takes gold, Crispin Corzo of Colombia in silver, and Glock of Brazil raced home for bronze. Dee finished fourth. No disgrace, that was won by a world record time.