Tokyo Paralympics – Day 9: Sarah Storey becomes Britain’s most successful Paralympian ever

It was a successful day for ParalympicsGB in Tokyo, with four more golds and a record-breaking win for Dame Sarah Storey, who is now Britain’s most successful Paralympian ever. After the day’s successes, Britain reclaimed its number two spot in the medal table.

Storey’s historic 17th gold medal came in the women’s C4-5 road race, where she defended the title she has held since London 2012. It is her third gold of the Tokyo Games, and her 28th Paralympic medal – impressively, since she made her cycling debut at Beijing 2008, she has not won anything except gold. The pace was set by Germany’s Kerstin Brachtendorf, but five of the six laps in, the pack caught up and left five riders in medal contention. Storey broke away and finished first in a time of 2:21:51, with compatriot Crystal Lane-Wright in the silver position seven seconds later. The bronze went to France’s Marie Patouillet.

There was another British one-two in the men’s C1-3 race – Ben Watson won his second gold, while Fin Graham claimed the silver. Once Watson was clear of the pack, he was never in any danger of losing, finishing in a time of 2:04:23, and Graham’s silver followed one minute and 20 seconds later. Such was their dominance, the third-placed cyclist – France’s Alexandre Leaute, was nearly seven minutes behind Watson.

Dan Pembroke set a new Paralympic and European record with a throw of 69.52m in the F13 final, claiming the gold in the process. Pembroke, who has a degenerative sight condition, would likely have smashed the world record of 71.01m too but for the wet weather conditions in Tokyo, but he was still more than five metres ahead of silver medallist Ali Pirouj of Iran.

A fourth gold came courtesy of Bethany Firth in the pool, who won her third consecutive S14 100m backstroke Paralympic title. She was dominant throughout, leading from start to finish and comfortably beating her Russian rival Valeriia Shabalina by 0.93 seconds. The win is her fourth gold of the Games. It was also a third medal for Jessica-Jane Applegate, who rounded out the top three with the bronze.

Wheelchair racer Sammi Kinghorn claimed the silver in the T53 400m, and then there were a number of other bronzes for ParalympicsGB. Reece Dunn took his fifth medal of Tokyo 2020 with bronze in the S14 100m backstroke, while the discus thrower Dan Greaves won bronze in the F64 event in torrential rain. Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewitt will play for bronze after they both lost their men’s singles semi-finals in the tennis, guaranteeing at least one more bronze on Saturday. And there were a couple of retirements – Ellie Simmonds finished fifth in the S6 400m freestyle, her final Paralympic race, while double Paralympic champion Libby Clegg announced her retirement after failing to qualify for the T11 200m women’s semi-finals.

The Swiss wheelchair racer Marcel Hug completed a hat-trick, taking gold in the T54 800m after his success in the 1,500 and 5,000m events. The American swimmer Jessica Long won her 28th career Paralympic medal with gold in the 4x100m medley relay, and the Australian long jumper Vanessa Low set a new world record to claim gold in the T63 event. The Cape Verde sprinter Keula Pereira Semedo and her guide Manuel Vaz da Veiga finished last in their women’s T11 200m heat, but are now engaged after Vaz da Veiga proposed on the track.

Medal table:

1. China

Gold (77), Silver (46), Bronze (44), Total (167)

2. Great Britain

Gold (34), Silver (27), Bronze (35), Total (96)

3. Russian Paralympic Committee

Gold (32), Silver (23), Bronze (42), Total (97)

4. USA

Gold (27), Silver (31), Bronze (22), Total (80)

5. Ukraine

Gold (20), Silver (39), Bronze (25), Total (84)