There was shock, joy and awe last night at the aquatics centre as the trio of Ellie Simmonds, Susie Rodgers and Paralympics GB stalwart Sascha Kindred set the pool alight with a quick-fire hat-trick of gold medals.
Sascha, who is competing in his sixth Games, had to settle for silver at London 2012 in the 200m individual medley SM6 having won gold in the event at Beijing, Athens and Sydney, but last night reclaimed his crown in a new world record. Rio is Kindred’s final Games and this victory, a 13th medal and seventh gold, was arguably his greatest yet.
Ellie Simmonds won gold in the same event in London and dominated the last leg in Rio to power to victory, also in a new world record time. But the reaction of the night went to Susie Rodgers, who was left in a state of shock after seeing she had swum a personal best and European record in the 50m butterfly S7, and claiming the win in the process. Having spent recent weeks in and out of hospital, Rodgers could not believe she had finally turned her four career bronzes into gold.
Earlier in the day, Will Bayley had kick started the medal rush by winning the men’s table tennis singles (Class 7), and celebrating by climbing on the table, hugging the umpire and jumping on his coach’s shoulders.
Over in the Olympic Stadium Aled Davies won F42 shot put gold, while Jonathan Broom-Edwards took silver in the T44 high jump, and there was another silver in the mixed team compound archery for Jodie Grinham and John Stubbs.
More highlights from day 5 include:
Athletics
Aled Davies added Paralympic gold to his shot put F42 World and European titles with a dominant display yesterday.
Davies, winner of shot put bronze at London 2012, broke the Paralympic record with his first attempt of 14.85m, before eventually finishing with a best of 15.97m, just 16cm off his own world record and 1.66m clear of the rest of the field.
The other finalist of the night was Sam Ruddock who came sixth in the men’s shot put F35. The 2016 European silver medallist threw a best of 12.70m on his fourth attempt although it was not enough for him to trouble the podium with China’s Fu Xinhan taking gold with 15.19m.
Jonathan Broom-Edwards secured GB’s second track and field medal of day five with silver in the men’s high jump T44 final. Broom-Edwards matched his season’s best of 2.10m to finish second behind long-term rival Maciej Lepiato of Poland, who broke his own world record with 2.19m.
The medal means Broom-Edwards now completes the full set of international medals having twice won world silver (2013 and 2015) and silver (2014) and bronze (2016) at European Championship level.
Six-time Paralympic champion David Weir is safely into the final of the 1500m T54 event after finishing second in his heat in 3:06.28.
Table Tennis
It was a golden morning at the Riocentro Pavilion 3 as Will Bayley won the men’s table tennis singles (Class 7), while Sue Gilroy recorded her best ever Paralympic result.
Bayley turned London silver into Rio gold after beating home favourite Israel Pereira Stroh in four sets, but Gilroy had to settle for fourth after losing a five-set epic to Serbia’s Nada Matic in the women’s Class 4 singles.
Bayley had lost to Stroh earlier in the competition, but reversed the score line in the final and celebrated by leaping onto the table - and then hugging the official who gave him a yellow card for doing so.
Archery
British archers Jodie Grinham and John Stubbs secured a silver medal in the mixed team compound (open), as they were beaten 151-143, by China, in the gold medal match.
The pair shared the first round with Zhou Jiamin and Ai Xinliang 38-38, but dropped the second as their radar went astray and lost it 35-38. And the Chinese continued their scoring run in the third, registering 38 again as Grinham and Stubbs could only manage 37.
Going into the final round four points down, Grinham and Stubbs fired in four arrows to total 33, but China’s 37 was enough to give them the round, and the win.
Swimming
At just 13 Abby Kane is the youngest member of ParalympicsGB in Rio and she produced another personal best to finish sixth in the 400m freestyle S13 final.
Alice Tai clocked 1:11.92 to finish seventh in the women’s 100m butterfly S10 final, while Andrew Mullen’s 34.87 sec personal best secured fifth in the men’s 50m freestyle S5 final.
Seven-a-side Football
ParalympicsGB’s seven-a-side football team recorded their first win of Rio 2016 with a 5-1 victory over Ireland. Four different British players got on the score sheet with an own goal for Ireland, ensuring a third-place finish in Group A.
Equestrian
Equestrian riders Anne Dunham, Sophie Christiansen and Sophie Wells all impressed in their first outing of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Lincoln’s Wells, riding Valerius, was first for the Brits in the Team test and got things off to a great start with 74.405% to finish second on the Grade IV scoreboard.
The Grade 1a Team test then followed with five-time Paralympic champion Sophie Christiansen, riding Athene Lindebjerg, scoring 77.522% - the highest score at the competition so far – to finish top her class. Christiansen is followed on the class leader board by teammate Anne Dunham, riding Lucas Normark, who scored 73.957%.
Wheelchair Basketball
The British men’s 100 per cent record was lost in their final group match against the USA, and they now face a wait to see who they face in the quarter-finals.
After a tight first quarter they trailed by just a single point, but were outscored 18-10 in the second period, to trail 31-22 at half-time. A strong period followed for the Brits though, winning the third quarter 15-11 to trail by just five points heading into the final ten minutes.
But the USA’s strength shone through and they outscored ParalympicsGB by 12 points, to win 65-48.
Sailing
Defending champion Helena Lucas made a near perfect start to the defence of her Paralympic sailing title in Rio.
Lucas posted a first and second in her opening races in the one-person keelboat at the Marina Di Gloria, mastering the tricky, light and unpredictable breezes better than her all male fleet rivals. She leads the early overall standings.
Alex Rickham and Niki Birrell are just outside the medals in the two-person keelboat after two fourths ranked them fifth overall.
Wheelchair Tennis
Wimbledon champion Gordon Reid claimed he played one of his best-ever matches as he progressed to the wheelchair tennis men’s singles quarter-finals at the Paralympic Games in Rio.
France’s Frederic Cattaneo was beaten in just 48 minutes, as Reid won 6-0, 6-2. He will now face fifth seed Gustavo Fernandez in the quarter-finals, the stage he exited the Games four years ago in London.
Reid will be joined in the last eight by ParalympicsGB team-mate Alfie Hewett, 18, who pulled off a shock 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 win over world number four, France’s Nicolas Peifer.
Boccia
ParalympicsGB’s mixed pairs boccia trio of Evie Edwards, Stephen McGuire and Kieran Steer missed out on the BC4 bronze medal as Thailand fought back from 2-0 down, to win 3-2.
They took the opening end 1-0, before repeating the trick in the second end. But the Thai team of Nuanchan Phonsila, Pornchok Larpyen and Chaloemphon Tanbut hit back, levelling things by taking the third end 2-0.
And another 1-0 score for Thailand in the final round saw the Brits miss out on a medal finish.