Pool joy for ParalympicsGB as Sascha Kindred and Ellie Simmonds both set new record in gold medal-winning swims
Great Britain enjoyed a stunning evening in the pool as Sascha Kindred and Ellie Simmonds both won gold on day five of the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro last night.
Kindred, competing at his final Games, won a 13th medal and will end his 22-year career as a seven-time Parlaympic champion after setting a new world record in the men’s SM6 200m individual medley.
The 38-year-old had initially been disqualified after his heat for a lane infringement, only to be reinstated on appeal.
Moments later, Simmonds, who made her Paralympic debut aged 13 at Beijing 2008, followed suit by retaining her women’s SM6 200m medley crown, while also setting a new world record. The 21-year-old is now a five-time Paralympic champion.
Jubilant Will Bayley, meanwhile, insisted he had realised the impossible after turning his London 2012 silver into Rio gold by beating Israel’s Pereira Stroh 3-1 in the men’s class 7 table tennis final.
The 28-year-old, who lost to Stroh by the same scoreline in the group stage of the competition, celebrated his success by leaping onto the table and then hugging the official.
“Words don’t do it justice. I’ve done it and I’ve realised the impossible,” said Bayley, who was born with arthrogryposis, a cogenital disorder which affects his limbs, and diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma aged seven.
“If it wasn’t for getting cancer as a kid, and being given a table tennis set to give me something to play with when I was recovering, then I would never have been here.”
Victorious Welshman Aled Davies, who has a combined disability of Talipese and Hemi-hemilia in his right leg, set a Paralympic record in the F42 shot put to add to the discuss gold he won in London four years ago.
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” said Davies. “I really had to fight for that and I didn’t really throw as far as I could to do justice to the shape I’m in.”
Archers Jodie Grinham and John Stubbs won silver in the mixed team compound.