Paralympics: Bumper day for ParalympicsGB as they clinch nine medals - including three golds

ParalympicsGB has enjoyed a bumper day at the Tokyo Paralympics, clinching a total of nine medals including three golds.

World records have also been smashed, as cyclist Kadeena Cox claimed gold and retained her C4-5 500m time trial title.

ParalympicsGB swimmers also enjoyed gold glory, with Hannah Russell claiming the top spot in the women's 100m backstroke S12 and Reece Dunn clinching gold in the men's 200m freestyle S14.

Meanwhile swimmer Bethany Firth won silver in the Women's 200m freestyle S14, Jessica-Jane Applegate won bronze in the same race, and Stephen Clegg claimed bronze in the men's 100m backstroke S12.

Sprinter Maria Lyle won ParalympicsGB’s first athletics medal as she claimed bronze in the women’s T35 100m final, while powerlifter Olivia Broome and cyclist Jaco van Gass have also won bronze.

Cycling

Cox, who won gold in cycling and athletics at Rio 2016, retained her C4-5 500m time trial title and beat Canadian Kate O’Brien, who held the previous global best and finished just over a second slower.

Cox finished her 500m with a time of 34.812, which was reduced to a real time of 34.433 due to her being in the lower of the two classifications.

She told Channel 4: “I tried not to cry on the podium, I tried to enjoy this moment. I did enjoy Rio but was trying to go well that I didn’t really, it’s a bit overwhelming.

“I got a lot of messages from my family before. My grandad has been in and out of hospital, and this one is for him. I just love him.”

Asked if she had a message for anyone watching at home, Cox said: “Do everything you want to do. If you don’t see someone, you don’t think you can be it. People can see me and go on and do better than me.”

Earlier, Jaco van Gass won bronze in the men's 1000m time trial C1-3 as he finished in finished in 1:05.569.

The Afghanistan veteran's achievement comes after he won gold in the men's pursuit C3, beating teammate Finlay Graham.

But with the men's 1000m time trial C1-3 event on Friday featuring athletes from different classifications, his time was not sufficient for another gold medal.

Instead, China’s Li Zhangyu, a C1 rider whose real time of 1:08.347 was reduced to 1:05.569 due to the greater severity of his impairment.

France's Alexandre Leaute, who competes in C2, claimed the silver medal, with his real time lowered from 1:09.211 to 1:05.031.

Each of the times recorded by Li, Leaute and Van Gass were world records in their respective classifications.

Van Gass, a South African-born cyclist, suffered life-changing injuries when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in 2009 while serving with the Parachute Regiment in Afghanistan.

He lost his left arm at the elbow, as well as suffering a collapsed lung, shrapnel wounds, punctured internal organs, a broken tibia and a fractured knee, requiring 11 operations and intense rehabilitation.

Inspired by London 2012, the 35-year-old rebuilt his life as an athlete.

Swimming

ParalympicsGB took five medals in the pool.

Gold medallist Russell retained her S12 100m backstroke title in a time of 1:08.44, while Dunn also won gold as he lowered his own world record by clocking 1:52.40 in the S14 200m freestyle.

Russell beat Russian Daria Pikalova to become a six-time Paralympic medallist.

The 25-year-old said: “In a visually impaired event, the turn is prime. I’ve been focusing on it so much this year in training.

“I knew it was going to be really tough on that back end.

“For me, taking a bit of time out around 2018-2019 was really important for me. It was really important for my mental health, I struggled with my mental health a couple of years ago but I overcame it. Always believe in your ability.”

Bethany Firth lost her Paralympic crown but managed silver in the S14 200m freestyle after finishing in 2:03.99. Teammate Jessica-Jane Applegate secured bronze, touching the wall more than five seconds later.

Clegg claimed won bronze in the S12 100m backstroke race, with a time of 1:01.27.

Dunn, who won silver in the S14 100m butterfly earlier in the week, told Channel 4: “Amazing – this is the one that I trained for and put all my effort into it and to break the world record too.

“I knew (Brazil’s Gabriel Bandeira) would be strong in that back 50m, so I put on the pressure in the first 150m. I was hurting.

“The first 150m was strong. Not bad with 12 weeks training post Covid.”

Athletics

Lyle, 21, from Scotland, finished in her season’s best 14.18 seconds on the opening day of track and field in the Paralympics.

China’s Xia Zhou won gold with 13 seconds, with Australia's Isis Holt took silver, with 0.13 seconds off the pace.

Lyle, who has cerebral palsy, won a silver and two bronzes in Rio, despite struggling with mental health issues at the time.

She said: “For me it was about going out there and enjoying the experience. To run the time I have, and to enjoy the experience, I am really happy.

“It was always going to be difficult to challenge for gold and silver so I really had to stick to my own race plan. I didn’t expect the time.

“It was hard to gauge where I was because the other two girls (Zhou and Holt) were quite far ahead but I just focused on what I needed to do for my race.

“I know from my heat I seized up a bit so I knew I had to relax more.”

Meanwhile, in the men's sprint event, GB's Ola Abidogun failed to qualify for the T47 100m final after finishing fourth in the heats. He had a season’s best of 11.17 seconds.

He said: “I’m two hundredths away from a place in the final so I’m devastated.

"It is a season’s best so I can take that away from me. But it’s not close to my PB.

“I’ve had a difficult last 18 months, I’ve had an ankle injury recently which is a sprinter’s curse. So it is nice to be able to run again – I was still struggling with it in July. But I know I have more to give and should have reached that final.”

Powerlifting

Olivia Broome claimed bronze in the women’s 50kg powerlifting.

The 20-year-old, from Lancashire, marked her Paralympic debut with a best lift of 107kg, 13kg off gold.

In the men's powerlifting, Rio 2016 silver medallist Ali Jawad managed a credible sixth-place finish in the men's 59kg final after a best lift of 164kg.

Nonetheless, Jawad believes he “won a medal in life” by making it to Tokyo and said his career could be over unless he finds sustainable medical treatment for Crohn’s disease.

The 32-year-old has been struggling with the inflammatory bowel condition.

With the stem cell trial window now closed, his current best option health-wise is to get a stoma bag, which would mean retirement.

Fencing

The ParalympicsGB men's wheelchair fencing team bagged bronze on Friday. The squad, consisting of Dimitri Coutya, Piers Gilliver and Oliver Lam-Watson, won Britain's first épée team medal since 1980.

It comes after world champion Gilliver won the men’s category A épée on Thursday and Dimitri Coutya picked up bronze in the men’s category B. 

Dressage

Natasha Baker picked up the 28th medal of the Games. Alongside her horse Keystone Dawn Chorus, Baker got silver in the individual test grade III dressage competition.

Between London 2012 and Rio 2016, Baker has five Paralympic gold medals.