Lead report by Joshua Murray for ParalympicsGB and Aquatics GB; followed by reports from Swimming Australia and Swimming Canada, with thanks.

Four glorious golds for Grace Harvey, Brock Whiston, Maisie Summers-Newton and the Mixed S14 4x100m Freestyle Relay team, plus a bronze for Alice Tai, ensured Britain's para-swimmers played a crucial role in ParalympicsGB's most successful single day at a Games this century.

In what is becoming an increasingly outstanding meet for the Aquatics GB cohort, that quartet of Paralympic titles - capped by a stunning triumph for Will Ellard, Rhys Darbey, Poppy Maskill and Olivia Newman-Baronius in that mixed freestyle relay - contributed to an incredible 12 golds won across all sports on the day by the GB team, while the swimmers are now up to 11 golds and 16 medals overall after four days.

There were headlines wherever you looked in the pool, with the quality of the team summed up by the fact that the night opened with stalwart Summers-Newton completing the 'double double' of her Paralympic titles across Tokyo and Paris after triumph in the Women's SB6 100m Breaststroke, and then ended with a quartet of four Paralympic debutants storming to relay victory.

In between that, there were maiden Paralympic golds for Whiston and Harvey, the former in a dramatic Women's SM8 200m Individual Medley final.

Tai - a gold medallist in the S8 100m Backstroke a mere 24 hours before - was the dominant early leader in this race, with Whiston sat sixth at the halfway point after the butterfly and backstroke legs. But Brock is a breaststroke specialist, and she was driven by just missing out on gold in the SB8 100m Breaststroke final earlier in the week across a storming 50m of breaststroke in this showpiece, moving her to within 0.13s of Tai at the final turn.

From there, it was down to an incredible freestyle finish between the two Brits and Viktoriia Ishchiulova in between them. Whiston and Ishchiulova looked destined to touch in tandem, only for Brock to find an extra burst in the final five metres to get to the wall first and claim her maiden Paralympic gold, with Tai just behind for bronze.

"I had something to prove to myself, I wanted to come out and show what I can do, and I think I did that tonight, nothing was stopping me from doing that. It wasn't how I expected to race, but I'm really happy with the outcome, I'm buzzing," she said, reflecting after a great swim but near-miss in the breaststroke event two days before."

"That [bouncing back] is what you have to do as an athlete, you're going to have good swims and bad swims, and you have to bounce back from the bad ones to really show what you've trained to do. I am really happy with that performance," added Brock.

Bronze medallist Tai - who has now reached the podium in two finals from two so far in Paris - added:

"I am really happy with my performance, it's always going to be a little bittersweet when it's so, so close at the end. We have so many debutants on the team this year, and all of them are swimming amazingly. It's so cool to just see what the next few years of para-swimming for Great Britain are going to bring, and Brock is part of that, it's so cool."

Whiston's first Paralympic title triumph was mirrored by Harvey a short while afterwards, in another nip-and-tuck final of the Women's SB5 100m Breaststroke.

A silver medallist three years ago in Tokyo, Grace stuck admirably to her race plan in the centre lane, with Ukraine's Anna Hontar and Li Zhang of China going out hard either side of her across the opening lap.

Sitting third at the turn, the Aquatics GB Manchester Performance Centre swimmer trusted in a well-executed turn and her back-end speed to see her home, and with Hontar dropping back, she clawed back to be level with Zhang heading into the final strokes. Like Whiston, she was not to be denied, powering into the wall for the gold. Said Grace:

"It means more than anything. I've never dared imagine that I'd be in this position, I just wanted to go out and do my own race - but to finally finish first, it feels amazing! I've never been that person that says 'I want to be Paralympic champion', it always felt like that unattainable goal, so to actually come away first, I'm like 'wow, this is my moment and all that hard work has really paid off'."

"La Defense Arena and the crowd here just really raise the noise for everyone. We have such a strong team, our qualifying times are some of the hardest in the world - we are here to perform, to showcase our talent to the world and we are doing that."

A fourth Paralympic title of her career was no less special for Maisie Summers-Newton to open the evening for ParalympicsGB. Fresh from defending her SM6 200m Individual Medley crown on Friday, the Northampton Swimming Club star was again always in control here in the SB5 100m Breaststroke finale, maintaining an unbeaten record in this event at major meets since 2019 and setting a new Paralympic record of 1:31.30. Said Maisie:

"I'm so chuffed, my nerves were on a different plane compared to the 200m IM. I just went in trying to enjoy the whole moment, I know my breaststroke is my strongest stroke. I got in, loved it, the crowd was amazing - and to defend both my titles, I couldn't have asked for much more.

"It's crazy! Thinking back to when I was watching Ellie Simmonds in London 2012, never would I have thought I'd come away with four gold medals from two Paralympics, let alone even one. I'm so happy, and to do it in front of my family, to get on that podium again tonight, it's just fantastic."

Relay Title Defence Rounds Off A Great Evening

The fourth and final gold of another awe-inspiring day at La Defense Arena for ParalympicsGB came courtesy of Ellard, Darbey, Maskill and Newman-Baronius in the Mixed S14 4x100m Freestyle Relay.

Remarkably, this victory meant a defence of the title won in Tokyo by Great Britain, but by an entirely new relay quartet - and with all four making their debuts in Paris.

Ellard, a day on from his world-record-breaking S14 200m Freestyle victory, set the tone with a strong opening leg to give GB a lead that Darbey, in his first race of these Games, engaged in a fierce battle with the Brazilian team one lane up to keep Britain in the lead.

It was then over to 200m Freestyle champion Maskill to lay down arguably the leg of the final to build a near-five-second lead, which Newman-Baronius swam brilliantly to defend emphatically on the anchor to bring home the crown.

"It's amazing. We are all pretty young and all our first time at a Paralympics, that's pretty cool and for us to do that. I don't think about other racers, we just try our hardest and see how we go," said Maskill afterwards.

Darbey added: "I was definitely trying to make as much room as I could for Poppy after me, and then look to hold the lead the best we could. I think we did a pretty good job of that and I'm pretty happy with the swim as well, so it's all good!"

Away from the podium, there were more strong swims for the GB cohort. Callie-Ann Warrington played her part in a brilliant Women's S10 100m Freestyle final, setting a new British S10 record of 1:01.10 to finish a mere 0.08s off the podium in her first Paralympic final. Faye Rogers came close to reaching the final too, missing out after a swim-off following a dead-heat in the heats.

Bruce Dee, meanwhile, was fifth after another controlled effort on his Paralympic debut in the Men's SB6 100m Breaststroke finale.

Rivard happy to enjoy the moment after taking silver medal

From Swimming Canada

Aurélie Rivard was happy to soak up the atmosphere Sunday after winning her second medal of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
 
Rivard was fourth after the opening 50 metres then battled her way to second place in the 100-m S10 freestyle to earn the 12^th Paralympic medal of her career. 
 
Family and friends were in the crowd when Rivard stood on the podium to receive her medal.
 
“I’m so happy I’m able to be in the moment and really enjoy this, despite having higher expectations for myself,” said the 28-year-old from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. “It will always be special to be on the podium for Canada and race in front of thousands of people, especially in front of my family.
 
“It’s hard to be sad being here with the crowd.”
 
Rivard wasn’t pleased with her time of 1:00.82, well off her world record of 58.14 she set at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
 
“I’m disappointed because I was looking forward to defending my title,” she said. “One of my strengths usually is the second 50 metres, coming back stronger.
 
“I’m used to flipping fourth, fifth, sixth. It’s usually not an issue at the end of the race. I kind of blacked out in the last 50 so I don’t really know what happened. I should have done a much faster race.”
 
France’s Emeline Pierre sent the packed house at the Paris La Défense Arena into a frenzy by taking gold in 1:00.49, just .33 ahead of Rivard. Italy’s Alessia Scortechini was third in 1:01.02.
 
After the race Rivard looked at the scoreboard then swam over to hug Pierre.
 
“Being on the podium with a French girl in a stadium with French people made it so much more amazing,” said Rivard. “It’s just a sport and that’s what it’s about.”
 
The noise and excitement in the arena is a stark contrast to the sterile environment in Tokyo where no crowds were allowed because of COVID-19 restrictions.
 
“I hated it, how cold and intense it was,” Rivard said about Tokyo. “You could hear the silence.
 
“I’m cherishing this. We can hear the crowd even in the water. I also love that people are just as excited for Paralympic sport as they were for the Olympics. It’s amazing.”

Rivard, who trains with coach Marc-Andre Pelletier at Club de Natation Région de Québec, took bronze in the 50-m S10 freestyle on Thursday’s opening day of competition. She now has five gold, four silver and three bronze medals competing at four Paralympics.
 
“It’s pretty cool,” said Rivard. “When I started my Paralympic career I never thought I would reach that amount of medals. I can’t be disappointed.”


Rivard had won the 100 freestyle at the last two Paralympics and is the reigning three-time world champion. She came into the final with the fastest qualifying time of 1:00.41
 
Arianna Hunsicker of Surrey, B.C., finished 12^th in the morning preliminaries in 1:03.18.
 
Rivard will now focus on Thursday’s 400-m freestyle, the race she has won at the last two Paralympics and holds the world record.
 
“It’s the event that I’m training for,” she said. “I’m just going to take it a day at a time, focus on my preparation and training and then do the best I can.”
 
Canadian Para swimmers have won four medals in Paris. On Saturday, Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., was second in the 200-m SM7 individual medley while Nicholas Bennett of Parksville, B.C, took silver and broke his own Canadian record in the S14 200-m freestyle.
 
Earlier Sunday Alexander Elliot of Kitchener, Ont., just missed qualifying for the final of the 100-m S10 freestyle. His time of 55.81 was .69 behind Alex Saffy of Australia who took the eighth and final qualifying spot.
 
“It was great to get off the blocks and get the jitters out,” said Elliot, who will swim the 100-m butterfly Tuesday, the 100 backstroke Friday and the 200 IM Saturday. “It was really cool walking out in front of the crowd and seeing everyone here.”
 
Paralympic rookie Fernando Lu of Burnaby, B.C., was 12^th in 56.07.
Reid Maxwell of Edmonton finished 10^th in the 200-m SM8 individual medley in 2:31.54.
 
Bennett will be looking to add to his medal collection Monday when he competes in the SB14 100-m breaststroke. He earned silver in the race at the at the 2023 Manchester Para Swimming World Championships and was fifth at the Tokyo Paralympics. He holds the Canadian record time of 1:03.71. 
 
Also competing Monday Nicolas-Guy Turbide of Quebec City will race in the S13 50-m freestyle and Sabrina Duchesne of Saint-Augustin, Que., in the S7 400-m freestyle. Both swimmers earned bronze medals in those events at the 2023 World Championships. 
 
Nikita Ens of Meadow Lake, Sask., and Aly van Wyck-Smart of Toronto will race in the 50-m S3 backstroke.
 
The Canadian team in the 4x100-m mixed 34-point medley relay will be Shelby Newkirk of Saskatoon swimming the backstroke, Lu the breaststroke, Katie Cosgriffe of Burlington, Ont., the butterfly and Maxwell the freestyle.
 
A team of 22 athletes is representing Canada in Paris. Canadian swimmers won eight medals (three gold, three silver, two bronze) at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Redemption for Kelly as Dolphins claim five medals on Day 4 Finals

From Swimming Australia

FIVE medals in three finals for the Dolphins at La Defense Arena this morning as Australia shot up the medal table of the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

The Australian swim team had their most productive night of the Games to claim three silver and two bronze - including medal redemption for Ahmed Kelly.

The man they call Liquid Nails is used to swimming against adversity.

Born in a Baghdad orphanage in 1991 without functioning arms and legs as a result of chemical weapons used during the Gulf War, Kelly wasn’t about to let a DQ heat scare derail his fourth Paralympic campaign.

The 32-year-old shrugged off the early drama – in which he was disqualified only to be reinstated for the final on appeal - to win silver in his pet event - the SM3 150 IM, of which he is the world champion.

In a carbon finish to the Tokyo Games, Grant “Scooter” Patterson won bronze (3:06.94) behind Kelly (3:02.16) with the fast-finishing Josia Topf (3:00.16), from Germany, claiming the gold.

A grateful and humble Kelly said: “I expected to see the lead change (during the race), it’s about sticking to the process. I was hoping to go better than Tokyo. (The DQ) hurt a bit but I put it behind me and I’ve been doing the same style of freestyle for four Games but officials do their best, and we all make mistakes.”

Earlier in the night, Australia claimed another double podium finish in the pool – a silver and bronze in the men’s 100m freestyle S10.

Italy’s Stefano Raimondi gatecrashed Australia’s sprint party, relegating Rowan Crothers and Thomas Gallagher to second and third respectively.

Raimondi had the better start and turned first at 50m to stop the clock in 51.40 with Crothers (51.55) and Gallagher, ripping a massive PB (51.86) only 0.15 and 0.46 respectively behind. 

Fellow Dolphin Alex Saffy, one of the youngest in the team at 18, placed seventh in 54.55.

Although disappointed not to win gold, Crothers said: “I know I’m capable of more but a silver medal if you ask me is pretty damn good. We race because we love it.”

Gallagher, gold medallist in the men’s 50m free S10, added: “It’s great fun to race together, we rock up to Brisbane heats acting like it’s the Paralympics … I’ve improved because of him (Crothers).”

In the last event of the night, the mixed 4x100m freestyle S14 relay team consisting of Jack Ireland, Madeleine McTernan, Ruby Storm and Ben Hance nabbed silver on the back of an outstanding anchor leg from Hance.

The day four haul takes Australia’s medal tally in the pool to 1-4-5.
 
For full results, see here.

What do the classifications mean?

• S1-S10 for athletes with physical impairments.
• S11-S13 for athletes with visual impairments.
• S14 for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

Classifications explained here.