Paralympics: Maisie Summers-Newton and Tully Kearney smash world records to win golds in swimming
GB paralympic swimmers Maisie Summers-Newton and Tully Kearney have smashed two separate world records to win gold medals.
Summers-Newton claimed gold in the women's 200m medley SM6. Her finishing time of 2.56.68 minutes meant she set a new world record.
Fellow GB swimmer Ellie Simmonds came in fifth place.
Another world record was smashed by GB as Kearney won gold in the women's 100m freestyle S5, with a time of 1:14.39.
Her achievement comes a day after she was denied gold in the S5 200m freestyle, where she had been leading throughout before defending champion Zhang Li snatched victory.
ParalympicsGB has 15 medals so far, with five of them being gold, and four of those gold medals won on Thursday.
Equestrian
In horse riding, Sir David Lee Pearson won GB's fifth gold medal in dressage individual test.
It is his 12th gold medal, moving him into third place on ParalympicsGB's all-time gold medal list, overtaking David Roberts and Tanni Grey-Thompson.
Sir Lee Pearson represented British para-equestrianism in Sydney, Athens, Beijing London and Rio. Over the course of his career, he has won 30 gold medals at European, World and Paralympic level.
Cycling
GB also clinched a gold and several silvers in track cycling on Thursday.
Jaco van Gass won Great Britain's second gold, with fellow Briton Fin Graham snatching silver in the C3 3,000m individual pursuit final.
Both riders broke the world record in qualifying for the final earlier in the day, but Afghanistan war veteran Van Gaas was the victor by 1.013 seconds.
In the qualifier for the final, Gass sliced more than nine seconds off the long-standing record of Russian Alexey Obydennov, held since April 2014.
He crossed the finish line with an unprecedented time of 3:17.593.
Meanwhile, Jody Cundy and Aileen McGlynn won two silver medals for Great Britain in track cycling on day two of the Paralympics.
Cundy, a seven-time gold medallist, won silver in the Men's 1000m time trial C4-5 as he attempted to defend his title.
The 42-year-old was beaten by Spain's Alfonso Cabello Llamas, who set a new world record of one minute 1.557 seconds.
He said: "I thought I’d be really disappointed with silver but I’ve just been beaten by the better man today.
“I pulled out a brilliant time but Alfonso was excellent. I did the best performance I can on the day, but when you’re beaten by a performance like that you just have to take your hat off to him.”
Cundy is a veteran of six Paralympics having competed as a swimmer in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens before successfully moving to the bike for Beijing, London and Rio.
McGlynn, who is visually impaired and rode with sight pilot Helen Scott, achieved a personal best of 1:06.743 in the women’s B 1000m time trial.
The three-time Paralympic champion previously won a silver and bronze alongside Scott at London 2012.
The Netherlands' Larissa Klaassen snatched gold from McGlynn in the last ride with a time of 1:05.291, while Belgium’s Griet Hoet won bronze.
Paisley-born McGlynn, 48, who won one gold at Athens 2004 and two in Beijing four years later, had stopped training just 12 months ago before continuing after Sophie Thornhill retired, which left Scott searching for a new partner.
She said: “To be here at another Paralympic Games, to set a lifetime personal best time, to come away with another silver medal is just phenomenal.
“I was riding my bike last year, I wasn’t training, I was just enjoying cycling. Not specific training.
“I got back into it when Sophie retired. I was asked if I was still cycling. I was asked to come and try out at a testing day. So, I got my finger out, got training again.
“There were doubts, yeah. I thought it would be tough call for anybody to get back and be ready in a year. But I thought if I don’t do it, I will always wonder. So, I gave it everything. Here I am.”
She also tweeted: "Absolutely delighted to have set a lifetime PB time of 1:06.743 and win the Silver medal with @Scottie2507 in the 1km TT. We've only been back training together for the last 12 weeks and we have had a fantastic time training together along with the support from #BritishCycling."
The pair’s achievement comes afer a gold medal for Dame Sarah Storey and silvers for Crystal Lane-Wright and Steve Bate on day one of the Paralympics in Tokyo.
For 31-year-old Scott, it was her fifth Paralympic medal, including the two she won with McGlynn nine years ago, and a gold in Rio with Thornhill.
She said: “I mean it’s absolutely amazing. We feel like we have won gold today really.
“We have been back together after nine years for 12 weeks, so to be on the podium is incredible. We are really pleased with the time we did as well. It is beyond what we could have imagined.
“We did everything that we could have done and got beat by the faster bike on the day. We literally cannot ask for any more than that.”
Wheelchair fencing
In wheelchair fencing, GB's Dimitri Coutya won bronze in the men's individual epee (category B).
Mr Coutya won a 15-11 victory over Belarusian defending champion Andrei Pranevich in the third-placed decider.
Meanwhile, wheelchair fencing world champion Piers Gilliver added the Paralympic title to his achievements by winning the men’s category A epee at Tokyo 2020.
The 26-year-old from Gloucestershire was in imperious form as he dispatched Russian Maxim Shaburov 15-11 in the deciding category A bout.
Silver medallist in Rio, Gilliver won each of his six pool matches on Thursday before seeing off Ukrainian Artem Manko 15-2 in the quarter-final and then avenging his final defeat of five years ago by overcoming China’s Gang Sun 15-6 in the last four.
"I’m a little overwhelmed but very happy," said Gilliver, who was disappointed with his last-16 elimination in the sabre on day one.
"Maxim has been a huge rival of mine for years, so I just focused on my own game plan and executed it as best I could."