Paralympic Games, Day 3: World Records For Great Britain Duo Stephen Clegg & Will Ellard
Great Britain’s Stephen Clegg set a world record of 59.02 en-route to gold in the men’s S12 100m backstroke on the third day of the Paralympics in Paris.
The 28-year-old led throughout, extending his advantage on the second 50 to claim his first Paralympic title in the first event of the evening at La Defense Arena.
Teammate Will Ellard made it two world records in as many men’s races when he went 1:51.30 in the S14 200m freestyle.
Ma Jia lowered her own WR in the S11 50m freestyle to 28.96 in the final race of the session.
Men’s S12 100m Backstroke
Clegg, who won bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago, served notice of his intent when he topped the prelims in 1:00.00, 0.65 off the world record of 59.35 held by Aleksandr Nevolin-Svetov since London 2012.
He emerged in the lead to turn in 28.48 ahead of defending champion Raman Salei of Azerbaijan and was a bodylength ahead at 75m and despite tiring towards the end, the Briton finished 0.33 inside the WR.
Salei was second in 1:00.67 with Yaroslav Denysenko of Ukraine claiming bronze in 1:01.52.
Women’s S12 100m Backstroke
Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago of Brazil led throughout to take the title in 1:08.23, an Americas record, ahead of Anna Stetsenko of Ukraine (1:09.43) and Maria Delgado Nadal of Spain (1:11.33).
Men’s S14 200m Freestyle
Ellard set the second WR of the session as he took 1.1secs off Reece Dunn’s standard of 1:52.40 from Tokyo.
The 18-year-old, who is making his Paralympic debut, split 25.93/53.88/1:22.85 before coming home in 28.97 for the title.
Nicholas Bennett of Canada took silver in 1:53.61 ahead of Australian Jack Ireland whose time of 1:53.77 was an Oceania record.
Women’s S14 200m Freestyle
Neutral Paralympic Athlete Valeriia Shabalina enjoyed victory by more than two seconds, extending her lead throughout to take gold in 2:05.14.
Poppy Maskill – who set a WR in the S14 100 fly on the opening day in Paris – won silver in 2:07.16 despite the fast finish of Great Britain teammate Louise Fiddes (2:07.91).
Men’s S8 100m Backstroke
Inigo Llopis Sanz of Spain upgraded Tokyo silver to Paris gold as he dominated the race in 1:05.58.
Japan’s Kota Kubota, who was fifth three years ago, claimed silver in 1:07.03 with Israel’s Mark Malyar moving from fourth at the turn to take bronze in 1:07.42.
Women’s S8 100m Backstroke
Alice Tai has eight world titles and five European golds but she was seeking her first individual Paralympic crown, three years after withdrawing from Tokyo with an elbow injury.
The Briton dominated the race and came home for victory in 1:09.06, lowering Stephanie Millward’s Paralympic Games record of 1:13.02 set at Rio 2016 in the process.
It was Tai’s third Paralympic medal following gold in the 4x100m medley 34pts and 100 back bronze in Rio.
Viktoriia Ishchivlova, a Neutral Paralympic Athlete, was second in 1:14.97 with Germany’s Mira Jeanne Maack third in 1:18.36.
Zheng Tingting set an Asian record of 1:18.96 in fourth.
Men’s S13 400m Freestyle
Ihar Boki arrived in Paris with 16 golds among 18 Paralympic medals across three Games following his debut at London 2012.
He won two golds in as many days at La Defense Arena in the S13 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke before he returned for the 400 free.
The 30-year-old Belarusian, who is competing as a Neutral Paralympic athlete, was 0.37 behind Alex Portal at 300m with the Frenchman having led from the start.
Boki, however, made his move and went ahead on the penultimate 50 before coming home in 3:58.37 to claim the 17th title of his career so far.
Alex Portal was second in 4:00.21 to claim his third silver of the meet in front of his home crowd following second in the S13 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke with his brother Kylian – who swims in the S12 classification – joining him on the podium.
Kylian came from fourth at the final turn to come through for third in a Paralympic S12 record of 4:05.99.
Women’s S13 400m Freestyle
Olivia Chambers of the USA won six medals at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester including silver behind Carlotta Gilli over eight lengths.
The American led from start to finish to claim her first international title in 4:29.93 ahead of Italian Gilli (4:31.83) and reigning champion Anna Stetsenko, the Ukrainian setting an S12 Paralympic record of 4:36.17.
Men’s S1 50m Backstroke
Kamil Otowski of Poland added the 50 title to his 100 gold in 1:07.95 followed home by Italy’s Francesco Bettella, who upgraded Tokyo bronze to silver in 1:13.90, and Anton Kol of Ukraine (1:14.44).
The same three men also occupied the 100 podium albeit with Bettella and Kol swapping steps.
Men’s S2 50m Backstroke
Gabriel Araujo also doubled up with victory over one length in 50.93, an Americas record, his second straight gold in the event. It followed his S2 100 win with which he claimed Brazil’s first gold of the Games.
Vladimir Danilenko, swimming under the NPA banner, took silver in 57.54 with Alberto Abarza Diaz third in 58.12.
Women’s S2 50m Backstroke
Singaporean great Yip Pin Xiu dominated in 1:05.99 to claim her fourth straight one-length title, dating back to Beijing where she competed in the S3 classification and subsequently in S2.
It was her seventh gold medal and the comprehensive manner of her victory was in stark contrast to the S2 100m backstroke which she won by 0.06 ahead of Haidee Aceves of Mexico on the opening night.
Aceves repeated her second place in 1:08.96 with 48-year-old Theresa Parales third in 1:10.95, 24 years after she won bronze among five medals at Sydney 2000.
Men’s SM7 200m IM
Inaki Basiloff of Argentina came from second at the final turn to take the win in 2:29.81, 0.80 off the Paralympic record.
Andrii Trusov replicated his Tokyo silver in 2:29.93 with fellow Ukrainian Yevheni Bohodaiko moving from sixth at 150m to take third in 2:33.13.
Christian Sadie of South Africa set an African record of 2:35.02 in fifth.
Women’s SM7 200m IM
Mallory Weggerman of the USA dominated the women’s race to retain her title in 2:53.29 and in the process lower her own Paralympic record of 2:54.25 set in Tokyo.
Tess Routliffe of Canada moved from fifth to second on the breaststroke leg, a position she maintained until the wall in 2:57.17 with Julia Gaffney making it a USA 1-3 in 3:01.27.
Iona Winnifrith of Great Britain set a European record of 3:03.25 in fourth.
Men’s S11 50m Freestyle
Keiichi Kimura stormed to victory in 25.98, eight years after silver at Rio 2016. it was the second Paralympic title of the Japanese swimmer’s career following gold in the S11 100m butterfly in Tokyo in which he will also compete in Paris.
Wendell Belarmino of Brazil and China’s Hua Dongdong – gold and silver medallists in Tokyo – shared silver in 26.11.
Women’s S11 50m Freestyle
Ma Jia set a WR of 29.20 en-route to gold in Tokyo but she took 0.24 off that mark in Paris to defend her title, a year after winning the world title in Manchester.
The Chinese swimmer won the SM11 200IM three years ago and will seek to retain that title as well as taking on the S11 100m backstroke and breaststroke.
Karolina Pelendritou, swimming under the NPA banner, was second in 29.82 with Maryna Piddubna of Ukraine third in 30.30.
