Tokyo Paralympics – Day 7: Reece Dunn sets world record to win third Tokyo gold

It was a typically impressive day for ParalympicsGB in Tokyo, picking up three more golds and a slew of other medals. In the process, Reece Dunn set a new world record time and Dame Sarah Storey became GB’s joint most successful Paralympian of all time.

Dunn won the men’s SM14 200m individual medley in a time of 2:08.02, beating the previous world record by 0.14 seconds. As he headed into the final turn, he was in second, but a powerhouse performance in the freestyle leg enabled him to pass Gabriel Bandeira of Brazil, who had to settle for silver – the bronze went to Ukraine’s Vasyl Krainyk. It is his fourth medal of Tokyo 2020, his maiden Paralympics, after winning 200m freestyle and 4x100m relay golds and a silver in the 100m butterfly silver.

Dame Sarah Storey won her 16th gold medal in the C5 time trial in 36:08.90, a dominant performance that saw her come 92 seconds ahead of silver medallist Crystal Lane-Wright, also of Great Britain. She now shares the record of 16 Paralympic golds with the swimmer Mike Kenny, although she has the opportunity to surpass it in Thursday’s road race. Since Beijing 2008, she has won 11 cycling golds on the track and road, never winning another Paralympic medal of any colour in the sport.

A third gold came in the cycling courtesy of Ben Watson, who won the men’s C3 time trial by more than 56 seconds. His time of 35:00.82 put him ahead of Steffen Warias and Matthias Schindler, both of Germany, who won silver and bronze respectively. Fin Graham narrowly missed out on his second Tokyo 2020 medal, finishing in fourth position, while Jaco van Gass came in sixth. In the tandem event, Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall both won silver, while George Peasgood won bronze in the men’s C4 time trial.

In the pool, Bethany Firth and Louise Fiddes won silver and bronze respectively in the women’s SM14 individual medley, with the gold going to the RPC’s Valeriia Shabalina in a time of 2:20.99. There were also bronzes for Stephen Clegg and Hannah Russell in the S12 100m freestyle races, Columba Blango in the men’s T20 400m and Olivia Breen in the T38 long jump.

Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid are through to the men’s wheelchair doubles final, where they will face France’s Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer for the gold, while Jordanne Whiley advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s singles after beating the USA’s Dana Mathewson. In boccia, defending BC1 champion David Smith is through to the final, while Scott McCowan will play for bronze in the BC3 event. There are three more medals guaranteed in the table tennis after GB’s teams progressed to the semi-finals, but the women’s wheelchair basketball team was defeated by China in the quarter-finals.

The USA’s Oksana Masters won her first summer Paralympic gold after a victory in the women’s H4-5 time trial – it is her ninth medal overall, after summer and winter Games, and her fourth sport after medals in the rowing, cross-country skiing and biathlon. Keiko Sugiura won the women’s C1-3 time trial and became Japan’s oldest gold medallist at 50, while Hashemiyeh Motaghian Moavi become the first Iranian woman to win Paralympic athletics gold with a world-record throw of 24.50m in the F56 javelin.

Medal table:

1. China

Gold (62), Silver (38), Bronze (32), Total (132)

2. Great Britain

Gold (29), Silver (23), Bronze (28), Total (80)

3. Russian Paralympic Committee

Gold (25), Silver (16), Bronze (33), Total (74)

4. USA

Gold (24), Silver (24), Bronze (15), Total (63)

5. Ukraine

Gold (15), Silver (33), Bronze (19), Total (67)