Rio Paralympics 2016: Great Britain win seven gold medals on day two

  • Published

2016 Paralympic Games

Venue: Rio de Janeiro Dates: 7-18 September Time in Rio: BST -4

Coverage: Live updates, video clips, medal table, results and news alerts, catch-up service, plus commentary on BBC Radio 5 live. Television coverage on Channel 4.

Sprinter Jonnie Peacock won Great Britain's seventh gold medal of an extraordinary second day of the Paralympic Games in Rio.

Peacock, 23, retained his T44 100m title with a dominant performance.

Cyclists Sophie Thornhill, with pilot Helen Scott, and Jody Cundy earlier won gold medals in the velodrome.

Georgie Hermitage, Sophie Hahn and Libby Clegg claimed victory in their respective 100m finals while Ellie Robinson, 15, won gold in the pool.

Peacock's victory helped ParalympicsGB, who won three of their gold medals in nine minutes, take their medal tally to 27, including 12 golds.

Robinson set a Paralympic record to win the women's 50m butterfly S6 in 35.58 seconds while Steph Slater won silver in the women's 100m butterfly S8.

There were also Games records for Thornhill and Scott - in the women's B 1,000m time trial - and Cundy, who won the C4-5 1km.

Hermitage, meanwhile, set a world record of 13.13 seconds to win the T37 title, before Hahn won her T38 final in 12.62

Clegg broke the world record en route to winning the T11 100m, after being reinstated following an earlier disqualification.

Stef Reid and Ali Jawad won silvers in the long jump and powerlifting respectively, while club thrower Gemma Prescott, powerlifter Zoe Newson, and swimmers Susannah Rodgers and Lewis White secured bronzes.

Three golds in nine minutes

  • 21:35 BST - Cundy wins his third Paralympic gold, with fellow Briton Jon-Allan Butterworth fourth.

  • 21:37 BST - Hermitage breaks the world record to take gold in her first Paralympic appearance.

  • 21:44 BST - European champion Hahn wins ParalympicGB's third gold in quick succession, with Kadeena Cox taking bronze.

Peerless Peacock retains title

World number one Peacock said before the race he was "not the favourite" to retain the title he won at London 2012, having struggled with injury.

However, the 23-year-old, who had his right leg amputated below the knee after contracting meningitis aged five, blew away the rest of the competition.

Peacock clocked 10.81 to finish 0.21secs ahead of New Zealand's Liam Malone to equal the Paralympic record, which he set in Thursday's heats.

"I just got to 40 metres then I kept pushing and that's when I pulled away," he told Channel 4.

"I wasn't the favourite in that race but my experience came through."

Analysis

BBC Sport's Elizabeth Hudson in Rio:

"Now a double Paralympic sprint gold medallist, Jonnie Peacock has come a long way from the raw teenager who was spotted at a talent identification day when he was 15.

"London 2012 was his breakthrough as he first silenced the 80,000-strong crowd on 'Thriller Thursday' before winning his first title.

"It hasn't been straightforward since, as Peacock has struggled both with injury issues and the emergence of other athletes, but also at times with the responsibility of becoming a face of Paralympic sport.

"Peacock loves to run and relishes the big stage but despite all his talent, the 23-year-old shuns the limelight, preferring to enjoy the quiet life in Loughborough with girlfriend Sally Brown, herself an athlete who competed at 2012, but he remains close to his Cambridge roots."

Robinson wins gold, aged 15

Robinson, who has Perthes hip disease, external and has daily physiotherapy, recovered well from a slow start in the final to finish strongly and set a new Paralympic record.

The teenager, who holds four British records, only made her debut at a major international event at the European Championships in April.

"It's so weird, it's not sunk in yet," she said afterwards. "I feel like someone's going to say: 'Ellie, wake up.'

"I put everything I have done in training into that race and it's going to be weird to go back to school as a Paralympic champion."

Image source, @NorthamptonHigh
Image caption,

Robinson's school, Northampton High, tweeted their congratulations to their pupil

Rodgers, 33, won Britain's second swimming medal of the day by clocking 33.42 seconds to finish third in the women's S7 50m freestyle.

White, 16, secured bronze in the men's S9 400m freestyle at his first Paralympics before Slater rounded off a good day in the pool for British swimmers.

Clegg wins after disqualification drama

Clegg was faced with the possibility of breaking a world record but going home without a medal as she was initially disqualified after the semi-finals.

The 26-year-old Scot, who has a deteriorating eye condition, finished in 11.91 seconds but was disqualified for being pulled by guide Chris Clarke.

The British team successfully appealed, and Clegg won gold by two hundreths of a second, clocking 11.96.

Her victory was GB's third on the track after Hermitage and Hahn, both of whom have cerebral palsy.

Hermitage, 27, only took up athletics after watching compatriot Mo Farah win two gold medals at the London Olympics.

A strong finish in a competitive field saw her win gold at her first Paralympics, before Hahn emulated her fellow Briton.

The 19-year-old finished just outside her own world record as she beat Brazil's Veronica Hipolito, with Cox finishing third.

Champion Cundy - four years on

Cundy's gold helped banish his disappointment from London 2012, when he was disqualified from the same race after his bike slipped on the start line, prompting a furious outburst.

The 37-year-old, who had his right foot amputated aged three, finished two seconds clear of Slovakia's Jozef Metelka in Rio.

"I'm properly pleased and was exhausted afterwards," he told BBC Radio 5 live. "To do it on the big stage was important."

Listen: 'Lost' Cundy thought he would miss race

Image source, Amy Lofthouse
Image caption,

Para-cyclist Dame Sarah Storey, who on Thursday became Britain's most successful female Paralympian, tweeted her congratulations to Cundy

Thornhill and Scott had earlier won their event by 0.776secs.

Thornhill, who won silver with Scott at the World Championships in March, said: "I can't believe it - gold is something I've dreamt of for so long and we have it."

"The Worlds made us even more fired up and motivated, and to win with your best mate is an amazing feeling."

Scott, who won silver and bronze medals alongside Aileen McGlynn at London 2012, said it was "amazing" to complete her set of Paralympic medals.

Paralympics GB - the best of the rest

Earlier on a frantic day, 31-year-old Reid took silver with a leap of 5.64m in the T44 long jump, France's Marie-Amelie le Fur setting a new world record of 5.83m to take gold.

Newson, 24, lifted 102kg in the -45kg division, while 32-year-old Prescott threw 19.77m to finish ahead of team-mate Abbie Hunnisett in the F32 category.

London 2012 double gold medallist Hannah Cockroft reached the T34 100m final without turning a wheel.

The heats, which were due to take place on Friday, were scrapped and Cockroft and fellow Britons Kare Adenegan and Carly Tait went straight into the final (22:06 BST on Saturday).

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

ParalympicsGB's Stef Reid won silver at London 2012 in the T44 long jump

In rowing, GB's TA mixed double sculls and LTA mixed coxed four both won their heats to reach their finals on Sunday.

Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley finished first in the double sculls in a new world best of three minutes 52.16 seconds at Lagao.

The mixed coxed four - Daniel Brown, Grace Clough, Pamela Relph, James Fox and cox Oliver James - clocked three minutes 25.08 seconds.

Rachel Morris, a gold medallist in cycling at the 2008 Paralympics, is through to the final of the AS single sculls.

In wheelchair basketball, GB's men made it two wins from two by beating Iran 82-62 while the women's team thrashed Argentina 79-20.

In wheelchair tennis, GB's Marc McCarroll beat Italy's Fabian Mazzei 7-5 6-3 in the men's open singles, but Jamie Burdekin lost 6-2 2-6 6-1 to Brazil's Ymanitu Silva in the men's quad singles.

Alfie Hewett progressed to the next round, as the 18-year-old beat Malaysia's Abu Samah Borhan in a 6-0 6-1 victory at his first Games.

Rest of the world

Irish sprinter Jason Smyth won a third straight gold medal in the T13 100m.

The visually impaired 29-year-old, the world's fastest Paralympian, clocked 10.64 seconds as he finished 0.14secs ahead of Namibia's Johannes Nambala.

Canada wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos, who is married to British silver medallist Reid, added to his family's success with gold in the men's 100m T53.

China continued to dominate the medals table as they took gold, silver and bronze in the men's 50m butterfly S8.

American Tatyana McFadden, who is competing in seven events in Rio, started her campaign with silver in the 100m T54.

Image source, @HRussell_96
Image caption,

Swimmer Hannah Russell tweeted about Great Britain's dominance on day two

Brit-watch - day three

13:30 BST: Shooter Matt Skelhon in R3 10m air rifle SH1 qualification (finals from 15:45)

13:46-14:00: GB's Ellie Simmonds, Sascha Kindred & Ellie Robinson in S6 50m freestyle heats (finals 21:44-21:50)

14:00: GB's first Rio gold medallist Megan Giglia in the women's C1-3 500m time trial final

14:00: Four of Britain's five judokas get under way, including London silver medallist Sam Ingram in the -90kg

14:03: Andy Lewis in the PT2 class as triathlon makes its Paralympic debut

14:07: Andrew Mullen and Brazil's Daniel Dias in S5 50m butterfly heats (final 21:56)

15:20: Joe Townsend, who lost both his legs in an explosion while serving in the Royal Marines, goes in the PT1 triathlon class

16:15: Ryan Cockbill and Richard Davies in R4 10m air rifle

16:30: Jordanne Whiley in wheelchair tennis women's singles first round

21:33: Kieran Tscherniawsky in men's shot put final

21:38: Graeme Ballard in men's T36 100m final

21:54: Dame Sarah Storey and Kadeena Cox, who won bronze in the T38 100m, go head-to-head in the C4-5 500m time trial

22:06: Wheelchair racers Hannah Cockroft and Kare Adenegan in the T34 100m final

22:12: Dan Bramall, Andy Small and Toby Gold in men's T33 100m final

Around the BBC

Related Internet Links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.