Paralympic Games, Day 4: Mykhailo Serbin, Gabriel Araujo Take Down World Records
The swimming portion of the Paralympic Games continued Sunday with 14 gold-medal finals held inside La Défense Arena, and the highlight of the day was Ukraine’s Mykhailo Serbin taking down his own world record in the men’s S11 100 backstroke on the way to gold. Later on, Brazil’s Gabriel Araujo broke his own global mark in the SM2 200 IM in a fourth-place finish in the SM3 final.
Great Britain, which entered the day with seven gold medals, has added two more, thanks to Maisie Summers-Newton winning a second consecutive top prize in the SB6 100 breaststroke and Brock Whiston and Alice Tai going 1-2 in the SM8 200 IM. China, meanwhile, has captured three gold medals.
Six Paralympic records have gone down in this finals session: in addition to the world marks, record-setters have included China’s Yang Hong in the SB6 men’s 100 breast, Summers-Newton in her breaststroke race, Italy’s Simone Barlaam as the lone S9 swimmer in the S10 final of the men’s 100 freestyle and Germany’s Tanja Scholz in the SM3 category while swimming in the SM4 final of the women’s 200 IM.
Men’s SB6 100 Breaststroke
Colombia’s Nelson Crispin set the world record in the SB6 100 breaststroke earlier this year, and he had the lead through the initial portion of the Paralympic final, but he could not maintain his advantage down the stretch as China’s Yang Hong surged through the field.
Hong, already a gold medalist and world-record setter in the SM6 150 IM, came through for the win in 1:18.34, breaking the Paralympic record of 1:18.71 set by Ukraine’s Yevhenii Bohodaiko eight years ago. That swim supplied China with its sixth gold medal in the pool through the first three-plus days of competition. Crispin, meanwhile, faded badly with a 43.19 closing split on the way to a final time of 1:19.76, his second silver after coming in behind Yang in the 150 IM.
Bohodaiko earned bronze in 1:20.70, with American Ray Morgan finishing just over a second off the podium in fourth (1:21.99).
Women’s SB6 100 Breaststroke
Maisie Summers-Newton, a 22-year-old from Great Britain, has repeated the gold-medal double she previously accomplished three years ago in Tokyo, winning 200 IM gold in the SM6 class as well as the 100 breast for SB6. And just as she did in Tokyo, Summers-Newton defeated world-record holder Liu Daomin for the breaststroke gold.
Summers-Newton jumped on the field from the beginning, leading by more than one-and-a-half seconds at the halfway point. Liu closed the gap as she moved into silver-medal position, but it was not enough as Summers-Newton finished in 1:31.30, smashing the Paralympic record of 1:32.34 she set in Tokyo.
Liu took silver in 1:32.25 as she pulled away from the rest of the field while Hong Kong’s Cheuk Yan Ng was the clear third-best swimmer, earning bronze in 1:34.15.
Men’s S10 100 Freestyle
Italy’s Stefano Raimondi added to the gold medal he won in the 100 breast (SB9) as he edged out a pair of competitive Australians in this 100 free final. Raimondi, who won eight medals in Tokyo, had a narrow lead throughout and reached the wall in 51.40, 15-hundnredths clear of Rowan Crothers, who won silver in 51.55.
Crowthers’ countryman Thomas Gallagher, who was in second place at the turn before falling slightly off the pace down the stretch, secured bronze in 51.86.
Swimmers in the S9 category were also eligible to compete in the final, and another Italian shined as Simone Barlaam set a Paralympic record of 52.43 in his fifth-place finish. He crushed his own Paralympic record of 53.89 from prelims and came up just shy of the world record (52.23) he set two years ago.
Women’s S10 100 Freestyle
The home country earned its second gold medal of the swimming portion of the Paralympics and first on the women’s side as Emeline Pierre got the better of Canada’s Aurelie Rivard for gold in the S10 100 free. Rivard charged down the stretch, but the French swimmer had just a bit extra in the tank as she emerged on top in 1:00.49, one-third of a second clear of Rivard’s 1:00.82.
The medal is Pierre’s first at the Paralympic Games while Rivard, who won two gold medals (including in this event) and five total medals in Tokyo, reached the podium for the second time in Paris.
At the halfway point, Italy’s Alessia Scortechini owned the top split (29.05), but Pierre, Great Britain’s Callie-Ann Warrington and Rivard were all within two tenths. As Pierre and Rivard emerged in the top-two positions, Scortechini ended up securing bronze in 1:01.02, just ahead of Warrington (1:01.10) and fast finishing Dutch swimmer Lisa Kruger (1:01.12).
The race stayed tight throughout, with top seven swimmers all finishing within a second of each other, with China’s Zhang Meng ending with an Asian record of 1:01.47 in seventh place.
Men’s SM8 200 Individual Medley
China won its second men’s gold medal in three events during this session as Xu Haijiao used a phenomenal freestyle leg to overtake countryman Yang Guanglong, who surged on the breaststroke, and achieve a 1-2 finish for their country. Xu touched first after butterfly but fell behind until coming through with a 33.36 closing length to touch in 2:22.54.
Yang, whose 38.39 breaststroke split saved the day after the field crushed him on backstroke, ended up with silver in 2:23.50. The two Chinese swimmers each improved one spot from their finish in Tokyo three years ago. Bronze, meanwhile, went to Portugal’s Diogo Cancela, who split 31.99 on freestyle to secure his podium spot.
Women’s SM8 200 Individual Medley
Two races after Maisie Summers-Newton brough British gold, countrywomen Brock Whiston and Alice Tai each scored spots on the podium in the SM8 200 IM.
Tai had the lead throughout, with the swimmer already with 100 back gold in Paris turning an incredible five seconds clear of the field and 10 seconds ahead of Whiston after that leg. But Whiston, who won silver in the SB8 100 breast, came through with a 41.48 split to move into second place, and on the freestyle, she outdueled Neutral Paralympic Athlete Viktoriia Ishchiulova to win gold by less than three tenths.
Whiston clocked 2:40.37, just ahead of Ishchiulova’s 2:40.65, while Tai earned bronze in 2:41.29. Just missing the podium was four-time defending champion Jessica Long of the United States, whose time of 2:45.70 left her in fourth place.
Men’s S11 100 Backstroke
For the second consecutive Paralympics, Mykhailo Serbin is golden in the S11 men’s 100 back, and this time, he has achieved his top prize in world-record time.
The 20-year-old Ukrainian became the first swimmer in his category to ever break 1:06 for two lengths of backstroke, with his time of 1:05.84 busting through the time of 1:06.01 he set last August in Manchester. Serbin also downed the Paralympic record of 1:06.66 previously owned by countryman Dmytro Zalevskyi.
David Kratochvil of Czechia also got under the previous Paralympic mark as he secured silver in 1:06.54 while Ukraine put two swimmers on the podium as Danylo Chufarov won bronze in 1:07.03.
Women’s S11 100 Backstroke
China’s third gold medal of the day and first among women’s events saw S11 100 back world-record holder Cai Liwen defend the title she won in Tokyo three years ago while swimming just over a half-second off her global standard. Cai dominated the field and won by more than two seconds as she swam a time of 1:14.02. Her world and Paralympic records in the category stand at 1:13.46.
And just as was the case in the men’s SB8 200 IM, China went 1-2 here as Li Guizhi placed second in 1:16.17, a half-second clear of European-record-setting, bronze-medal-winning Paralympic Neutral Athlete Daria Lukianenko (1:16.64). Another Chinese swimmer, Ma Jia, placed fourth in 1:17.13.
Men’s SM4 150 Individual Medley
Roman Zhdanov, a Neutral Paralympic Athlete, defended the Paralympic gold he won three years ago in Tokyo with a time of 2:23.03, besting the field by almost seven-and-a-half seconds. Zhdanov finished about two seconds shy of his world and Paralympic marks as he captured the sixth gold for NPA swimmers in Paris.
Israel’s Ami Omer Dadaon, previously the gold medalist in the 100 freestyle in the S4 category, finished well ahead of anyone else in the field as he claimed silver in 2:30.50 while Mexico’s Angel de Jesus Camacho Ramirez earned bronze in 2:37.29, making up a 1.07-second deficit on the final 50 to pass Korea’s Jo Giseong by 16-hundredths at the finish.
Women’s SM4 150 Individual Medley
Germany’s Tanja Scholz was the only SM3 swimmer competing in this final, but she was able to blast the finish and secure the gold medal in the event by more than three-and-one-third seconds, her time of 2:51.31 setting the SM3 Paralympic record in the event. She crushed the previous mark of 2:54.14 set by Ukraine’s Olga Sviderska in 2016.
Neutral Paralympic Athlete Nataliia Butkova earned the silver medal in 2:54.68, making her the top competitor in the SM4 category, while Brazil’s Lidia Vieira da Cruz scored bronze in 2:57.16, just ahead of Germany’s Gina Boettcher (2:57.44).
Men’s SM3 150 Individual Medley
Germany won gold for a second consecutive Paralympic final as Josia Topf came through to win this final by exactly two seconds. The Australian duo of Ahmed Kelly and Grant Patterson owned the top-two positions entering the final length, but Topf’s superior finishing abilities put him into gold-medal position in 3:00.16.
Australia ended up finishing 2-3 for the second time in the Sunday evening session, with Kelly securing silver in 3:02.16 and Patterson taking bronze in 3:06.94. That trio finished seven seconds ahead of anyone else, but in fourth place was a world-record setter.
Brazil’s Gabriel Araujo beat his own world and Paralympic marks in the SM2 200 IM, coming in at 3:14.02, more than a second quicker than his previous mark of 3:15.06.