Key events
In the men’s shot put F20, Ukraine’s Oleksander Yarovyi is in a class of his own – on his way to gold, he has beaten his own world record twice. Fair play.
Next on the track, it’s the women’s 200m T64 final – with world-record holder Kimberley Alkemade the big favourite. Heading into the turn, only Dutch compatriot Marlene van Gansewinkel is close, but Alkemade pulls clear to win with a Paralympic record. Bronze belongs to Germany’s Irmgard Bensusan.
Wheelchair basketball update: Great Britain starting to eke out a lead against Australia – it’s 36-30 at half-time.
An early gold from tonight’s track session went to Ukraine’s Yuliia Shuliar, who won the women’s 400m T20. Shuliar pipped Turkey’s Aysel Onder by 0.07s, with India’s Deepthi Jeevanji third.
Speaking of world records, another has fallen on the track, with Jaydin Blackwell winning gold in the 400m T38 race in 48.49s. It’s the American’s second gold of the Games after winning the 100m T38. Compatriot Ryan Medrano came second, with Colombia’s Juan Campos Sanchez in third.
Ihar Boki has won his fifth gold of the Games in the 200m medley SM13, setting a world record in the process. Boki, who is from Belarus but here as a neutral athlete, has now won 21 [TWENTY-ONE] Paralympic gold medals in his career – making him the most successful male Paralympian of all time.
Gold for the USA’s Leanne Smith in the women’s S3 100m freestyle, and in a Paralympic record too. GB’s Ellie Challis is edged out of the medals into fourth place. Marta Fernandez Infante of Spain wins silver, Australia’s Rachel Watson takes bronze.
Thanks, Taha. Let’s start with a wheelchair basketball update. Great Britain are taking on Australia in the men’s quarter-finals – they lead 17-16 after the first quarter.
I’m going to nip off for a quick break. Niall McVeigh will be good company in the meantime.
More good ParalympicsGB table tennis news: Will Bayley has triumphed in his MS7 men’s singles quarter-final against Germany’s Björn Schnake, winning 3-1. Bayley won gold at Rio 2016.
Well, this is something. In the S11 women’s 200m individual medley we’ll see twin sisters: Eliza Humphrey and Scarlett Humphrey of ParalympicsGB. This category, in case you’re not aware, is for those who are blind or nearly blind. The sisters are next to each other in lanes one and two, and Scarlett is third at the 50m mark, Eliza seventh. But Scarlett drops to fifth after 100m … and gold glory goes to Daria Lukianenko with a world-record time! She trumps her previous world-best of 2:38.47 with a new time of 2:37.77.
Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid have wrapped up a rather straightforward win against Ruben Spaargaren and Maarten ter Hofte in the men’s wheelchair tennis doubles quarter-finals: 6-2, 6-1. They’ll take on the French pair of Frederic Cattaneo and Stephane Houdet in the semis. Houdet was victorious when he faced Hewett and Reid in the finals at Tokyo and Rio, then partnered up with Nicolas Peifer.
There’s a GB representative in the S5 women’s 50m backstroke, Tully Kearney. China’s Lu Dong is the world-record holder, though, and wins gold with a time of 37.51! It’s a China 1-2-3, with He Shenggao second and Liu Yu third. Kearney finishes fifth.
Now to a look at the MS1 men’s table tennis quarter-finals, with ParalympicsGB’s Robert Davies and South Korea’s Kim Hakjin into a deciding set. Davies is 5-0 down before winning five points in a row … the Welshman ends up moving into a 7-6 lead. Davies has two match points at 10-8 … and he raises a hand into the air after securing victory! He won gold in Rio and he’s still on for it in Paris.
Ah, nice of Channel 4’s YouTube swimming stream to finally rock up. Time for the S6 women’s 50m butterfly final, won by world-record holder Jiang Yuyan rather comfortably, her time of 35.03 more than two seconds ahead of the second-placed Liu Daomin. That’s her third gold of these Games; that’s some week.
The USA’s Christie Raleigh Crossley wanted to compete at the Olympics before car accidents in 2007 and 2008, and brain surgery a decade later. After all that adversity, she’s just won gold in the S9 women’s 100m backstroke with a Paralympic record time of 1:07.92.
In the S9 men’s 100m backstroke … there’s gold for the NPA athlete who hails from Belarus, Yahor Shchalkanau. He won silver in the same event three years ago at the Tokyo Games. France’s Ugo Didier has to settle for second this time round. Frustratingly, Channel 4’s YouTube swimming stream is down. Ugh.
Off we go to the pool, first up with the S7 men’s 100m backstroke … with the world-record holder Andrii Trusov in action. But its his compatriot, Yurii Shenhur who triumphs, with a time of 1:09.51. Trusov takes silver for a Ukrainian one-two!
In the men’s wheelchair tennis quarter-finals, Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid are cruising against the Dutch pair of Ruben Spaargaren and Maarten ter Hofte, up 5-0 in the first set. The GB pair will serve for a bagel.
Taha Hashim
Hello, wonderful people. What have we got going here? There’s plenty of swimming around the corner, beginning at 4.30pm BST with the S7 men’s 100m backstroke. Please drop me a line with your thoughts, queries and anything I’ve potentially missed – there’s plenty to keep tabs on.
That leaves it to me to hand over to Taha Hashim for the next session.
Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop wins the 50m shooting
More drama! Hiltrop steals back the gold, denying Vadovičová with China’s Zhang in third.
Hewlett and Read are on the Roland-Garros turf and they’re knocking up.
In the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1, Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop is leading. The men’s event saw Park Jin-ho win gold for South Korea. But, there’s drama as Veronika Vadovičová goes into the lead.
We wait for those, and the tennis, which sees Alfie Hewlett and Gordon Reid can do a Jack Draper. They’re up against a tough Dutch pairing.
How about a gallery from Monday’s action?
After a slow early afternoon, the pool beckons. As does the track later this evening.
Germany beat Spain in the basketball semi-finals
It’s their first semi since 1996, and that’s a huge win for the Germans, 59-47. They will play the winner of GB v Australia, and that’s going be a big, big game.
An Ortega throw means the gap is down to ten, Germany 53-43 Spain, with tensions beginning to show. Though the clock is running right down…
Some quotes from GB’s Sammi Kinghorn after she won silver on the track in the 1500m:
Who would have thought a sprinter would get a medal over 1500m? I certainly did not. I thought I’d be jostling for fourth, maybe squeeze a third. It was all pretty exciting. I kinda got a bit disorientated and I stopped at 200 metres to go because I thought we were done – it’s so loud in here which we’re not used to. So I learned I need to count laps. But that noise is absolutely electric and I’m absolutely buzzing to come away with a medal.
Into this final quarter between Germany and Spain in the basketball. They lead 43-39 from Spain. This is expected to go to the wire.
Some news from the Boccia, with a win for Australia.
At the break, Germany have taken a 26-16 over Spain in the basketball.
Natasha Baker won equestrian bronze for ParalympicsGB. Here’s the PA Media take.
Six-time Paralympic champion Natasha Baker likened her horse to fictional nanny Mary Poppins after returning from pregnancy to win bronze in rain-soaked Versailles.
The 34-year-old blew a kiss to son Joshua at the end of her performance in the grade three individual dressage event, having given birth last year and spending 12 months out of the saddle.
American Rebecca Hart subsequently grabbed gold, with Rixt van der Horst of the Netherlands snatching the silver Baker won three years ago in Tokyo.
The British rider, who was competing on Keystone Dawn Chorus – also known as Lottie, said: “If you’d told me that I was going to even be selected for the Paris Games over Christmas, I would have absolutely laughed in your face.“I was very naive going into the whole pregnancy, coming back from it and everything. I don’t think you really know what’s gonna happen until you’re in that situation. And my pregnancy was harder than I imagined it would be. I knew it would be a challenge physically. But obviously it’s such an unknown.”
Baker posted a score of 73.167 on a grey morning in the grounds of the former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV to win the ninth medal of a Paralympic career which began at London 2012.
The current focus is the wheelchair basketball quarter-final between Germany and Spain, with Germany leading 17-13. Make that 17-15. This is keenly fought, and with one hell of an atmosphere.
And some morning news from the track.
First up, we need your help.
Preamble
Good afternoon, and welcome to day six of coverage of action from Paris. As ever, a busy schedule, and plenty of medals to go around.
Here’s what to look out from today’s daily briefing:
Dressage storm goes on for GB At the Olympics, the British team started under a cloud after a video emerged of Charlotte Dujardin, Team GB’s most decorated Olympic equestrian, whipping a horse. The ParalympicsGB equestrian team has similarly been left reeling after it emerged Sir Lee Pearson – Britain’s third most successful Paralympian – had been suspended amid an ongoing investigation into his conduct. Those who are in Paris will look to put a happier spin on the narrative with successes today: Natasha Baker, Georgia Wilson and Mari Durward-Akhurst all have medal hopes.
Rogers makes a splash in pool At her international debut in the world championships in Manchester last year, British swimmer Faye Rogers burst on to the scene to take butterfly gold and two bronze medals. The 21-year-old from Stockton-on-Tees is also currently studying biochemistry at the University of Aberdeen. In 2021, on the day she was due to travel to Scotland, Rogers was in a car accident which left her with permanent damage to her right arm. ‘The consultant sat me down and I was told they could save my arm but I wouldn’t be able to compete again,’ Rogers said. ‘I turned to my mum and just said: “Watch me”.’ Rogers is going for gold in the S10 100m butterfly in Paris.
En garde: fencing gets under way For the Olympics, the Grand Palais began as the home of fencing and was then transformed for taekwondo. At the Paralympics, it is the other way round as one of Paris’s most spectacular venues is rearranged for wheelchair fencing. Britain’s Piers Gilliver is defending his Category A épée gold from Tokyo, while Dimitri Coutya and Gemma Collis are among their other medal hopefuls.
Trusov carries nation’s hopes Ukraine are traditionally a Paralympic powerhouse – in Tokyo they picked up 24 golds among a haul of 98 medals, finishing sixth in the medal table. Understandably, the influx of silverware has not been quite as great this time around but Andrii Trusov could bring some cheer today. The 24-year-old has had to prepare for the Games in Kamianske, the base for Ukrainian Paralympic swimmers from territories occupied or under the biggest threat from Russia. Today, Trusov goes in the S7 100m backstroke looking to retain the gold he won in Tokyo.
Frech seeks Hollywood reframing Then just 16 years old, Ezra Frech missed out on the high jump medals by one place in Tokyo. Finishing fourth was a bitter pill to swallow and Frech used the image of the three medallists as motivation, using their pictures as his phone screensaver with the caption ‘never again’. Now 19 and with a world title to his name, Frech is expected to get a coveted medal in the men’s T63 event in Paris. Frech is a Los Angeles native and his mum, actor Bahar Soomekh, appeared in the Oscar-winning film Crash and the Saw franchise. He is likely to be a star name at his home Games in 2028.
