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.
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
