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

Tully Kearney and Maisie Summers-Newton both delivered dominant defences of Paralympic titles in the Women's S5 100m Freestyle and SM6 200m Individual Medley events respectively to ensure another triumphant night for ParalympicsGB's swimmers on day two of Paris 2024, Joshua Murray writes.

Kearney backed up her superb victory in the S5 200m Freestyle on Thursday to come back and again produce a fine display of freestyle swimming, before Summers-Newton showed just why she is unbeaten in major international events over the 200m Individual Medley in the past six years to win the third Paralympic gold of her career - while Brock Whiston closed the night by reaching the podium with silver in the Women's SB8 100m Breaststroke in her maiden Paralympic final.

For Tully, the S5 100m Freestyle success owed much to her powers of recovery after a late finish the day before, when she had won the 200m event. Less than 24 hours later, she again lined up in lane four - and again, kept pace with Ukraine's Iryna Poida over the first half of the race, before surging into the lead off a strong turn and building from there to reach the wall for gold.

"It's pretty incredible. I was a bit concerned about this one, but to retain my title feels incredible. It was such a late night last night, then an early start and not long in between to rest, so it was really hard for all of us that swam last night to keep that energy up," she said.

"This crowd is amazing. Because we were the first event tonight, there were so many people here, and to hear the crowd and that noise gave me a big push.

"I'm just so grateful to the team for helping me get here, and also everyone that plays The National Lottery, because if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here. I'm so grateful to everyone who has helped us."

Tully's result would ensure the first of two occasions on the night that the Union flag was raised highest over the podium - with the ever-consistent Summers-Newton delivering the second Friday night gold.

Maisie started well to hold her own against American Ellie Marks across the opening 100m of butterfly and backstroke, before her dominance over the breaststroke leg saw her move well clear of the field. The Northampton Swimming Club athlete then powered down the final 50m of freestyle to consolidate her lead and cap a massive victory, three years on from the race that brought her a first Paralympic title in this event in Tokyo.

"I was really, really nervous. That's something that has come since Tokyo, there is a lot of pressure being Paralympic champion and then trying to defend your title, it has been a lot. But I am just trying to enjoy it and reminding myself I've been at the top since 2018, it's a long time. I'm reminding myself, 'you're obviously doing things right this year, PBing, getting a new world record earlier this year'," said the 22-year-old, who also revealed that she had had a brief hold of flatmate and teammate Poppy Maskill's gold medal as added inspiration ahead of her final.

"These three years have been fantastic - I've finished university, I'm a qualified primary school teacher now, met so many different friends - but at the same time, I've still got that side to me that I am an elite athlete, I'm still trying to work really hard in the pool, and that has paid off in the last three years.

"Team-wise, I've definitely become a more senior member of the team, we've got so many young athletes like Iona [Winnifrith] and Poppy coming up. They're doing so well, so for me it's trying to inspire them, try to give them what knowledge I can, but also focus on myself and still try to swim really well."

Behind Maisie, Grace Harvey improved on her result from the SM6 200m Individual Medley final from Tokyo where she was sixth by missing out on a medal by a single position, finishing fourth after four strong laps of medley swimming.

The Manchester Performance Centre athlete will be back in action on Sunday as she looks to win another SB5 100m Breaststroke medal after silver three years ago.

Last up on the evening, Brock Whiston ensured that it would be a haul of two golds and one silver for a second consecutive finals session for ParalympicsGB as she finished second in the Women's SB8 100m Breaststroke, on her Games debut.

Whiston was never out of the top two as she quickly established her place behind eventual gold medallist Anastasiya Dmytriv Dmytriv of Spain, coming back hard down the final 25m to close the gap with every stroke and touch for silver, comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack and back on a senior international podium.

While there were mixed emotions afterwards for Brock, she acknowledged what it meant to now be a Paralympic medallist.

"I'm actually disappointed, not for coming second but my time - I've done a lot faster this season. I don't really know what happened, I think I went out too slow and had too much work to do on the second 50m, but I'm happy to get a silver medal," she said.

"I should be really proud of myself but I'm quite harsh on myself as well and always want to do my best. I think a lot of people look back at the time I did in 2019, unfortunately I'm not that athlete anymore, a lot has changed with my impairment. I'm disappointed with the time but I should be happy."

There were several Paralympic debutants in action for GB on the night, including Bruce Dee, who put together a solid swim to place fourth in the final of the Men's SM6 200m Individual Medley - thanks to a brilliant second 100m, his breaststroke and freestyle speed taking him from seventh to fourth.

Meanwhile, Scarlett and Eliza Humphrey enjoyed a unique moment as they lined up next to each other in lanes seven and eight of the Women's S11 400m Freestyle final, ultimately finishing sixth and eighth respectively after both booking their places in the finale to kickstart their first Paralympic experience.

SHOCK DQ FOR DOLPHINS

A Shock disqualification saw Australia’s 20PT mixed 4x50m freestyle relay team end the second night of finals at La Defense Arena in confusion, write Selina Steele, Aurora Johnston and media team.
 
After setting a new Oceania Record in the heat, Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson, Ahmed Kelly and debutants Holly Warn and Chloe Osborn edged their way into lane eight for the final with a combined effort of 2:52.55.
 
Post-race Kelly admitted they had “donkey’s chance” of featuring in the medals and said: “I’m so proud of these two (Warn and Osborn) … just to get into the final as amazing, and the crowd was insane.”
 
While the Dolphins waited for the ruling on the their DQ, touch-pad confusion also delayed the official announcement of China as the gold medallists in world record time (2:14.98) with USA silver (2:18.99) and Brazil third (2:20.91).
 
After a wait of almost 15 minutes, the Australian team was informed swimmer three (Warn) had stayed in the lane too long at the conclusion of her leg.
 
As per World Para Swimming Rules & Regulations" "any Athlete having completed their leg in a relay Event must exit the pool as soon as possible without obstructing any other Athlete(s) who has not yet finished their leg."

To make the Paralympics 20pt final, the Dolphins first since 2016, was an achievement in itself. 
  
In other finals, triple Paralympian Tim Hodge is still chasing that elusive gold medal after a fifth finish in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB8.
 
Hodge, who has two silver and a bronze in the pool room from the Tokyo Games, is building towards his pet event in which he is the world-record holder – the 200 IM on Day 8.
 
The 23-year-old touched in 1:12.11 with neutral athlete Andrei Kalina, 37, claiming his fifth Paralympic gold medal in this event, stopping the clock at 1:09.02. China’s Guanglong got silver (1:09.83) and Columbia’s Carlos Serrano Zarate won bronze (1:10.55, a new Paralympic record for SB7).
 
Meanwhile Gold Coast’s Keira Stephens’ late surge wasn’t enough to steal bronze in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB9.
 
Dutch champion Chantalle Zijerveld, in her only event at these Games, clocked 1:13.74 to win gold and China’s Meng Zhang silver (1:15.05).
 
Netherland’s Lisa Kruger (1:17.14) held on for bronze ahead of Stephens ( 1:17.64 ) – who won bronze in the same event in Tokyo. Stephens next event is the 200IM on the last day of competition.
 
Our Dolphins will chase more medals on Day 3 tomorrow morning  with Jack Ireland, Ruby Storm and Maddie McTernan headlining seven Aussies in the water across five different events.
 
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.

Massabie breaks Canadian record twice in Paralympic debut 

Sebastian Massabie turned in a record-breaking performance competing at his first Paralympic Games, writes the Swimming Canada media team.  

The 19-year-old from Surrey, B.C., broke his Canadian record in his morning heat Friday then lowered it again in the final to finish fifth in the 100-m S4 freestyle. 

Massabie touched the wall in 1:22.53 in the final. He was more than a second faster than his morning time of 1:23.80 which lowered his previous Canadian record by .08. 

“This was a great day,” said Massabie, who trains with the Pacific Sea Wolves. “I can’t wait for my other races.” 

Swimming in front of the large, loud crowd at the Paris La Défense Arena was a new experience for Massabie. 

“This is grand,” he said. “This is 10 times more than I’ve done. It’s pretty good.” 

Jy Lawrence, who has coached Massabie since he was 14, was emotional after the race. 

“Very proud,” she said. “He handled the pressure really well.” 

Lawrence said Massabie made some mistakes in the morning which he corrected in the final. 

“He cleaned up some of his breathing patterns,” she said. “He did a job this morning of finishing fast. We just cleaned up some details.” 

Ami Omer Dadaon of Israel won the race in 1:20.25. Japan’s Takayuki Suzuki was second in 1:21.71 while Mexico’s Angel de Jesus Camacho Ramirez was third in 1:22.32. 

Katarina Roxon, one of Canada’s flagbearers at Wednesday’s opening ceremonies who is competing in her fifth Paralympics, was eighth in the 100-m SB8 breaststroke. 

Roxon, of Kippens, N.L., fought back tears after finishing in 1:27.39. The 31-year-old won gold in this event at the Rio 2016 Paralympics and was fourth in Tokyo.  

“It’s a tough one,” said the four-time world championship medallist in the event. “The breaststroke is the most technical stroke there is. I’ve been struggling a little bit with it. 

“That’s life. You learn from every experience. I’ve always said you can always learn and keep improving.” 

Roxon is already looking forward to her next individual event, the 200 IM on Thursday. 

“You’re allowed to be sad,” she said. “Take time to grieve whatever the loss is and to process everything. Tomorrow is a brand new day. Time to regroup and refocus on the next thing ahead.” 

Spain’s Anastasiya Dmytriv won the race in 1:19.75. Britian’s Brock Whiston was second in 1:21.04 followed by Viktoriia Ishchiulova, a neutral Paralympic athletic, third in 1:24.04. 

Canada opened the swimming competition with Aurelie Rivard of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., taking bronze in the 50-m S10 freestyle Thursday. 

Canadians will be in the hunt for more medals Saturday. 

Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., and Danielle Dorris of Moncton, N.B., will serve up a 1-2 punch in the women’s S7 200-m individual medley. Routliffe won gold in the race at the 2023 Manchester Para Swimming World Championships while Dorris was third. Dorris was fourth in the event as an 18-year-old at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. 

Nicholas Bennett of Parksville, B.C., will swim the S14 200-m freestyle, which he won at Manchester.   

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.