In a day that culminated with Jonnie Peacock successfully defending his London 2012 T44 100m title, Great Britain won a staggering seven gold, three silver and six bronze to galvanise their position in second place on the medal table.
Peacock put in a dominant display to blow his rivals away and cross the line first in a Paralympic record equalling time of 10.81 seconds, with New Zealand’s Liam Malone second and Germany’s Felix Streng third.
No other athletes in the eight-strong final ran under 11 seconds as Peacock’s second Paralympic title took ParalympicsGB’s overall tally of gold medals won in Rio to twelve.
More highlights from day one include:
Cycling
Sophie Thornhill and pilot Helen Scott set a new Paralympic record in the 1000m time trial as they secured the first British medal of day two. The pair posted a new Paralympic best of 1:06.28 in the penultimate ride, and when the Dutch duo failed to surpass the Brits’ time, gold was confirmed.
Jody Cundy put his London 2012 demons to rest with a long awaited gold in the C4-5 1000m time trial, setting a new Paralympic record of 1min 04.492sec in the process. And Loise Rolfe picked up track cycling's third and final medal of the day with a bronze in the C2 3km pursuit.
Athletics
Stef Reid secured Great Britain’s first athletics medal in Rio with a silver in the women’s T44 long jump. European champion Reid, who was a silver medallist in London four years ago and a bronze medallist in the T44 200m at Beijing 2008, recorded a best effort of 5.64m.
Gemma Prescott claimed ParalympicsGB’s second track and field medal with bronze in the women’s F32 club throw, finishing with a best effort of 19.77m to finish third, just ahead of teammate Abbie Hunnisett in fourth with 19m. Prescott’s bronze adds to the bronze she won four years ago in London.
Georgina Hermitage won ParalympicsGB’s first track and field gold of Rio 2016 with victory in the women’s 100m T37 before Sophie Hahn and Kadeena Cox quickly followed that with gold and bronze in the 100m T38 respectively.
Double world champion Hermitage powered across the finish line in a world record time of 13.13 seconds to mark her Paralympic Games debut in style, while Hahn completed the full set of major international titles at the age of just 19, with a Paralympic record-equalling run of 12.62 in the 100m T38.
And Libby Clegg kept a clear head to take gold in the 100m T11 alongside guide Chris Clarke. Clegg set a new world record of 11.91 in the semi-finals earlier in the day at Rio’s Olympic Stadium, before being disqualified on the basis she had been illegally pulled by her guide.
After a successful appeal, Clegg and Clarke were reinstated and were back on form in the final, clocking 11.96 to take the gold medal ahead of China’s Zhou Guohua by two hundredths of a second. It is a third Paralympic medal for Clegg after consecutive silvers at Beijing and London in the T12 category.
Powerlifting
Zoe Newson matched her achievement of London 2012 as she claimed bronze in the -45kg category. She successfully lifted 102kg to place third behind Nigeria’s silver medalist Latifat Tijani, while China’s Paralympic champion Dandan Hu won with a lift of 107kg, later setting a new world record of 108kg in the bonus round.
Ali Jawad won his first ever Paralympic medal after securing silver in the men’s -59kg category. Jawad, competing in his third Paralympic Games and finished fourth at London 2012, lifted a best of 190kg to finish second. Gold went to Egypt’s Sherif Osman who set a Paralympic record of 203kg.
Swimming
Greenwich’s Susie Rodgers claimed bronze in the S7 50m freestyle. The 33-year-old posted a personal best of 33.26 to secure her fourth Paralympic bronze medal after three at London 2012.
Teenage swimmer Lewis White marked his first Paralympic Games with bronze in the S9 400m freestyle. Despite having qualified as third fastest from the heats, the 16-year-old was out of the medal positions until the final 150 metres. White came strong in the second half of the race to surpass his personal best and finish ahead of Spain’s Jose Antonio Mari Alcaraz and fellow Brit Jonathan Booth, who came fifth.
Fifteen-year-old Ellie Robinson, who was inspired by Ellie Simmonds after watching her race at London 2012, stole the show with a gold medal winning performance in the S6 50m butterly. Robinson blew away the competition in the final, including close rival Oksana Khrul of the Ukraine, with a new Paralympic record of 35.58.
Rowing
Rachel Morris dominated her rivals to win her women’s singles sculls, meaning she progresses straight to Sunday’s final. Morris is making her third Paralympic appearance but her first in a boat, after winning cycling gold in Beijing and silver in London.
Wheelchair Basketball
The women’s wheelchair basketball team produced a dominant display to convincingly beat Argentina 79-20 at Rio 2016. The British side were looking to bounce back after a defeat to world champions Canada on the opening day of Rio 2016 and they led throughout this contest. There were 16 points for County Antrim’s Morrow and 14 for three-time Paralympian Freeman.
Judo
Jonathan Drane fell just short of a judo podium place after finishing fourth at the Paralympic Games in Rio. Drane started well, defeating two strong opponents that had the potential to cause trouble, Uzbekistan’s Khalilov and France’s Jonard, to reach the semi-final.
His opponent in the semi-final, Korea’s Lee, lived up to his reputation as an exceptional fighter to defeat Drane by Ippon. The British judoka’s came up against another tough opponent in his bronze medal match and was defeated by Azerbaijan’s Rovshan Safarov.
Tennis
London 2012 singles silver medallist Will Bayley bounced back from his opening Rio 2016 Paralympic Games defeat with a convincing 3-0 win over China’s Liao Keli The reigning Class 7 world champion needed 29 minutes to beat his opponent 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 in what was one of four wins for Brits in the opening session of day two.
Kim Daybell was also victorious as the class 10 player was pushed all the way by Indonesia’s Dian David Michael Jacobs, before winning the deciding game 14-12 to win 3-2 overall. Rob Davies was also taken to five games by Italy’s Andrea Borgato in their Class 1 encounter, eventually winning 3-2.
And the fourth British win of the session came through five-time Paralympian Sue Gilroy in Class 4, who was taken to five games by Lu Pi-Chun.
Table Tennis
London 2012 bronze medallist Aaron McKibbin secured his progression into the knockout stages with a 3-1 win over Belgium’s Marc Ledoux. Defeat in his opening Class 8 match meant McKibbin had to secure victory in his final Group C contest to keep his medal hopes alive and the Londoner duly delivered.
The 25-year-old won the opening two games 11-4 and 11-5, and while Ledoux took the third 12-10, McKibbin responded excellently to take a crucial fourth 11-3.
Take a look ahead to Day 3 here.