Great Britain finished the opening day second in the Paralympic Games medal table after a series of incredible performances which saw the team win five gold, three silver and three bronze.
Dame Sarah Storey became the most successful British female Paralympian ever with gold in the C5 3,000m individual pursuit. Storey, competing in her seventh Paralympic Games, caught teammate Crystal Lane after 1,375m to earn ParalympicsGB’s second gold of Rio 2016 and move clear of Baroness Tanni-Grey Thompson on 12 gold medals. The 38-year-old now has 12 golds, eight silvers and three bronze Paralympic medals across swimming and para-cycling events.
Whilst in the pool there were golden successes in the pool as Bethany Firth defended her 100m backstroke S14 title while Ollie Hynd set a new world record to win the 400m freestyle S8 final.
More highlights from day one include:
Cycling
Megan Giglia won Britain's first medal of the 2016 Paralympic Games with victory in the C1-3 Individual Pursuit. Giglia caught opponent American Jamie Whitmore in the gold-medal ride to take the title on her Paralympic Games debut. The 31-year-old had earlier broke her own world record in the heats when she recorded a time of 4:03.544.
The fourth medal on the track came through Stephen Bate and his tandem partner Adam Duggleby, as they secured gold in the men’s B individual pursuit. The pair just missed out on setting another world record in the final, having set a new best time in the morning session, but the 4:08.631 they posted was good enough to defeat Netherland’s Vincent ter Schure in the final by just under two seconds.
Athletics
Reigning champion Jonnie Peacock was among the athletes to impress in Rio on Thursday as he won his 100m T44 heat in a new Paralympic Games record of 10.81. Peacock laid down an early marker at the start of the evening session by cruising through the first heat, eventually qualifying as the fastest qualifier for Friday’s final.
Georgina Hermitage equalled her own world record as she safely made it through her heat in the T37 100m. The European champion over 100m, 200m and 400m ran a time of 13.39 seconds to equal the world record she set in May and was 0.3 seconds ahead of the next fastest qualifier ahead of Friday’s final.
Reigning world champion Sophie Hahn also broke the Paralympic record in the T38 100m running 12.62 with compatriot Kadeena Cox following her home to finish second in the same heat. Olivia Breen qualified as a fastest loser after a fourth-placed finish in 13.35 seconds.
Sprinter Libby Clegg ran a lifetime best 12.17 to successfully qualify for Friday's T11 100m semi-finals alongside her guide Chris Clarke. The double Paralympic silver medallist was awarded the same time as China’s Guohua Zhou in the second heat, as they finished joint first.
Three-time European champion Samantha Kinghorn came fifth in the women’s 100m T53 final in 17.13 seconds which was won by China’s Lisha Huang.
Paralympic debutant Polly Maton came seventh in the T47 long jump final as the 16-year-old recorded a jump of 5.10m with her opening effort.
Swimming
Ollie Hynd won the men’s 400m freestyle S8 final to clinch Britain's first swimming gold of Rio 2016. Hynd lowered his own world record to touch home first in 4:21.89 and upgrade on the silver he won in London 2012.
It was double success for the women in the 100m backstroke S14 as Bethany Firth defended her Paralympic title ahead of teammate Jessica-Jane Applegate in third. Firth lowered the world record she had set in the day’s earlier heats to touch the wall first in 1:04.05, while Applegate was third in 1:08.67 with Dutch swimmer Marlou van der Kulk splitting the British duo in second.
Stephanie Millward swam her way to a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle S8, touching the wall third in 4:49.49 behind Australia’s Lakeisha Patterson who won in a world record time of 4:40.33. The bronze isMillward’s sixth Paralympic medal after four silvers and a bronze at London 2012.
Jonathan Fox claimed the third Paralympics medal of his career as he finished second in the men’s 100m backstroke S7 final. The reigning champion touched the wall in 1:10.78, narrowly behind Ukraine’s Yevheniy Bohodayko, who won gold after a tight race to turn the tables on his rival from four years ago.
Harriet Lee won Great Britain's third swimming medal as she finished second in the 100m breaststroke SB9 final, one place better than the bronze she won at London 2012, and Andrew Mullen swam a personal best time on the way to claiming his maiden Paralympics medal. Mullen, who made his Games debut at London 2012, collected bronze in the 200m freestyle S5 final.
Shooting
Karen Butler and Lorraine Lambert got ParalympicsGB Rio 2016 campaign underway yesterday morning as they competed in the women’s R2 10m air rifle standing SH1 qualification round. Butler, competing at her fifth Games, finished with a total of 400.2 from her 40 shots to place 14th, while Paralympic debutant Lambert was one place lower in 15th with 399.1.
Only the top eight shooters progressed through to the final with China’s Zhang Cuiping setting a new Paralympic record of 413.4 as the best qualifier. For the British duo however, it was the perfect opportunity to sample the atmosphere of the shooting range in Deodoro ahead of further events next week.
Wheelchair Basketball
The men got their Rio 2016 campaign off to a winning start as they defeated group B opponents Algeria 93-31 at the Rio Olympic Arena.
Coming up against a team making their Paralympic Games debut, the Brits put on a strong showing with Ian Sagar top scoring with 19 points, as ten different British players got their names on the scoreboard.
The women put in an encouraging performance in their opening match, but lost out to reigning world champions Canada 43-36. Coyotes duo Helen Freeman and Amy Conroy top-scored for Great Britain with 14 points each.
Football
The men's 7-a-side team were narrowly beaten 2-1 by hosts Brazil in their opening Pool A game at the Deodoro Stadium. The British side fought back well from 2-0 down at half time, but were unable to find an equaliser after David Porcher pulled one back.
Great Britain take on Ukraine in their next fixture on Saturday before facing Ireland in their final pool A match on Monday. The top two from each group qualify for the semi-finals.
Table Tennis
David Wetherill recorded ParalympicsGB’s first table tennis victory of Rio 2016 with a 3-0 win over Egypt’s Ibrahim Hamadtou in the men’s single’s class 6. The three-time Paralympian won the first game 11-5 in just four minutes before recording 11-7 and 11-5 successes in the next two games to wrap up the win inside 17 minutes. He will look to continue his good form against German Thomas Rau on Friday in his second Group D match.
And finally Robert Davies secured a table tennis victory (3-2) in the men’s singles class 1 match against Switzerland’s Silvio Keller, winning 13-11, 11-4, 11-13, 9-11, 11-2 with Italian Andrea Borgato lying in wait on Friday.
Take a look ahead to Day 2 here.