The first gold medal of the Paralympics was won by Kadeena Cox, a British sprinter who broke her own world record. Cox is currently in her third year of studying at the University of Sheffield and she has been on the track since she was 13 years old.
The Tokyo Paralympics is an international sports event that takes place every four years. This year the games are in Japan and the UK has won a total of 21 medals so far.
| Tokyo, Japan is the location. Time in Tokyo: BST +8 Dates: 24 August-5 September |
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With a spectacular world-record performance in Tokyo, Britain’s Kadeena Cox retained her C4-5 500m time trial Paralympic championship.
The 30-year-old, who won gold in cycling and athletics at the 2016 Rio Olympics, knew she had to beat Canadian world champion Kate O’Brien’s time of 35.830 seconds to win Britain’s sixth gold of the Games.
And she shattered it with a time of 34.812 seconds, breaking the previous record by 0.411 seconds.
“I felt I wanted to do something unique, and that putting everything together that my coach and I had worked on would be incredible,” she added.
“I ran a near-perfect race, and I couldn’t be happier.”
Hannah Russell and Reece Dunn both won gold in the pool, making it a great day for British swimmers.
Russell defeated Russian Daria Pikalova in the S12 100m backstroke final to retain her title.
Dunn earned his first Paralympic gold in the S14 200m freestyle, after finishing second in the S14 butterfly on Wednesday.
Bethany Firth finished second in the S14 200m freestyle, with Jessica-Jane Applegate of Great Britain earning bronze.
Stephen Clegg won bronze in the men’s S12 100m backstroke event.
Natasha Baker took silver in the Grade III individual test on Keystone Dawn Chorus, often known as Lottie, to win Britain’s fourth para-equestrian medal at Tokyo.
Tobias Jorgensen, 21, of Denmark, with his horse Jolene Hill won gold with a score of 76.265 percent (78.971).
Earlier at the velodrome, Britain’s Jaco van Gass won bronze in the C1-3 1000m time trial, his second medal of the Games.
In his C3 category, the gold medalist in pursuit established a new world record, but it wasn’t enough to win.
On day three, bronze medals were awarded to Piers Gilliver, Dimitri Coutya, and Oliver Lam-Watson in the men’s wheelchair epee team, sprinter Maria Lyle in the first session of the athletics competition, and powerlifting rookie Olivia Broome.
It was Gilliver’s and Coutya’s second medal of the Games, and Lam-first Watson’s on his debut.
Lyle placed third in the T35 100m in 14:18 seconds, while China’s Xia Zhou established a new world mark of 13:00, while Broome set a new world record in the -50kg event with a top lift of 107kg.
Ali Jawad, Broome’s teammate, finished sixth in the men’s -59kg event following a build-up in which his training was hampered not just by Covid-19 but also by his daily battle with Crohn’s disease.
Cox deals with ‘difficult’ situations.
Cox will compete in the team sprint again on Saturday with Van Gass and Jody Cundy before switching sports and defending her T38 400m championship on the athletics track the following Saturday.
She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after suffering a stroke in 2014 and had to restart her athletic career.
She has had to cope with a lot of injuries and has struggled with “disordered eating” since her Rio triumphs, when she became the first British woman to win two golds in separate sports at the same Paralympic Games in 28 years.
The scorching heat of Tokyo has also been a significant problem for her.
Cox is currently one of the most well-known Paralympians in the United Kingdom.
Cox is currently one of the most well-known Paralympians in the United Kingdom.“I’m heat sensitive, so it’s a challenge out here,” she said. “My muscular spasms and speech have been impacted.”
“It’s a challenge, and it’ll take me a little longer to recuperate,” she says. “Hopefully, it won’t be too long since I have another race tomorrow.”
Cox, who has 11 siblings, says she has spent the most of her time traveling between Manchester for bicycle training, Loughborough for athletics training, and Leeds for family. Her Christian faith, as well as the support of her network of relatives and friends who were unable to travel to support her, are helping her.
“It’s been totally different,” her sister Carmel Williams told Breakfast. “She hasn’t had any of us with her.”
“Because we’re such a close family, not having any of us around her is a huge deal.”
“So, just to show her that we care, we’ve given her a slew of movies, just so she knows she has our backing, which she clearly does. She was watching them before the race to help her concentrate, and she came out on top, which was fantastic.”
Other Britons at Work
David Weir, a six-time Paralympic gold medalist, struggled in the T54 5,000m heats and did not advance to the final on Saturday.
After reaching the semi-finals, table tennis medals are secured for Jack Hunter-Spivey (class 5), Tom Matthews (class 1), and Paul Karabardak (class 6).
The wheelchair rugby team, who had already qualified for the semi-finals, fell 50-48 to the United States in their last group game and will play Japan in the semi-finals on Saturday (06:15 BST).
Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley of Great Britain established a new Paralympic record in the PR2 mixed double scullst on the first day of competition, and the PR3 mixed coxed four achieved the same in the PR3 mixed coxed four.
To qualify for the final, Ben Pritchard in the PR1 men’s solo sculls must finish in the top two in Saturday’s repechage.
Jess Stretton, an archer, established a new Paralympic record in qualifying for the women’s compound open event.
However, the men’s wheelchair basketball team was defeated 71-59 by Germany, with player-coach Gaz Choudhry leading the way with 14 points, while the women’s squad was defeated 53-35 by Germany and now faces a must-win game against Australia on Saturday (12:30).
Keep an eye on the world.
Marcin Polak of Poland has been temporarily suspended by the International Cycling Union (UCI) after testing positive for the prohibited blood enhancer EPO during Wednesday’s B 4,000m solo chase alongside pilot Michal Ladosz (erythropoietin).
Polak will be unable to participate in the B 1000m time trial on Saturday, as well as the following road races.
“The appropriate disciplinary body will assess the implications of the bronze medal he received,” stated a statement.
Lex Gillette, an American blind long jumper, was unable to capture the long-awaited T11 long jump championship, finishing in second place for the sixth Paralympic Games in a row.
The 36-year-old set a personal best of 6.17m, but China’s Dongdong di was victorious (6.47m).
Abbas Karimi of the Refugee Paralympic Team made his Games debut in the men’s S5 50m butterfly final, finishing eighth.
The 24-year-old was born without both arms in Afghanistan. He fled when he was 16 years old, first to Iran and then to Turkey until settling in the United States in 2016.
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- paralympics 2021
- paralympian
- paralympic games
