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

World, Hold On. The Fisher pump-up song has become a self-fulfilling prophecy for Dolphin sprint star Alexa Leary who first claimed a world record in the heat and then broke her own world record in the final to claim gold in the women’s 100m freestyle S9 at La Defense Arena in Paris.

It was the 23-year-old’s second Paralympic gold medal after the bike crash survivor spearheaded Australia’s stunning mixed medley relay (34 points) gold medal in the pool on Monday courtesy of an epic anchor leg.

It’s been just over three years since doctors told 'Lex' Leary’s family she would not live after a horror accident while completing triathlon training, and the Gold Coaster promised to “bring the beast” to the final.

With a social media shout-out from Fisher himself: “You legend you … bring home the gold”, Lex did just that, her 59.53 the best the world has ever seen which prompted a “f$%^ yeah” and fist pumps.

Teammate Emily Beecroft also clocked a PB in the event, her 1:03.36 seeing her finish fourth.

“I’m very impressed with myself,” Leary told Channel 9 said post-race.

“It’s a miracle I’m living and walking and talking … my family are the reason I am here. When I was in ICU, Dad called in a fortune teller and see if I would survive my nine brain operations … and she said I would go to a Paralympics.”

In addition to Leary’s gold, Day 7 of finals also delivered two bronze medals to the Australian medal table with crowd favourite Grant 'Scooter' Patterson and Ricky Betar standing on the podium.

With another impressive start off the blocks, two-time Olympian Betar set an Oceania record with a PB in the men’s 200m individual medley SM14 final, touching in 2:08.69. Canadian world record holder Nicholas Bennett (see Canadian report below) was too strong (2:06.05) with Great Britain’s Rhys Darbey (see Britain report below) claiming silver (2:08.61).

And then Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson captured the second bronze of his Paris campaign – this time in the men’s 50m breaststroke SB2 final.

Scooter, who has diastrophic dysplasia, a form of dwarfism, revealed prior to the Games that a camera session with a biomechanist, visiting with Olympic coach Michael Bohl and his squad in Cairns, had corrected his body positioning. Scooter said:

“A bronze medal at the Paralympics, I can’t complain. Sportsmanship, looking after one another is what sports all about and my favourite memory in Paris (so far) is the mixed relay and sharing the pool with three of my fave teammates."

The 35-year-old then said the LA and Brisbane Games were also on his cards.

In the men’s 400m freestyle S8, rising Sunshine Coast swimmer Callum Simpson, in Year 11 at Matthew Flinders Anglican College on the Sunshine Coast, showing no fear, went out hard in the first 100m before fading to 6th.

It was one of closest finishes of the session with just 0.77 seconds separating the three medallists:  Alberto Amoswo (ITA)  with gold (4:23.23), Reid Maxwell (CAN) silver  4:23.90 and Andrei Nikolaev (neutral) bronze (4:24.00).

In other results:

• Women’s 100m Freestyle S12: Dolphin Jenna Jones placed eighth with a time of 1:04.40. Brazil’s Maria Gomez Santiago won gold (59.30), Ukraine’s Anna Stetsenko silver (1:00.39) and Japan’s Ayano Tsujiuchi the bronze (1:01.05).
• Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM14: Triple Paralympian Paige Leonhardt, 23, completed her Paris program with an eighth in the final of the women's 200m individual medley SM14 with 2:35.33. Medallists were: Valeriia Shabalina (NPA) 2:22.40; Poppy Maskil (Great Britain)  2:23.93; Aira Kinoshita (JAPAN) 2:25.96.
• Women’s 400m Freestyle S8:  At her first Paralympic Games, Ella Jones dropped six seconds in two swims - a five second PB in the heat and then another second in the final to finish sixth in 5:02.86. American Jessica Long won the event – her 17th Paralympic gold medal - in 4:48.74.
•  Women’s 100m Freestyle S7: Paralympic debutant Chloe Osborn touched the wall at 1:13.76, placing seventh overall. China's Yuyan Jiang joined the world record club, setting a new time of 1:06.98. Joining Jiang on the podium is USA's Morgan Stickney (1:10.11) and Italy's Giulia Terzi (1:10.43) in third.

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.

Bennett wins gold, Maxwell silver at Paralympics 

From Swimming Canada

Nicholas Bennett emptied the tank to win gold and Reid Maxwell broke his Canadian record twice for silver Wednesday as two Canadian men won medals on the same day at the Paralympics for the first time in 16 years.
 
Bennett, of Parksville, B.C., earned his second gold and third medal of the Paris 2024 Games by winning the 200-metre SM14 individual medley in a Paralympic record time of 2:06.05. The reigning world champion was just .08 off his world record of 2:05.97 set in May at the Olympic & Paralympic Trials, Presented by Bell.
 
Maxwell, of Edmonton, battled Italy’s Alberto Amodeo to finish second in the 400-m S8 freestyle. His time of 4:23.90 knocked another 2.5 seconds off the Canadian and Americas record he swam to lead all qualifiers in the morning preliminaries.
 
Bennett was third after the opening 50 metres of butterfly in the four-discipline IM race. He had a body-length lead after the breaststroke then cruised to victory in the freestyle, finishing 2.56 ahead of silver medallist Rhys Darbey of Britain. Ricky Betar of Australia was third in 2:08.69. 
 
Bennett described the last 50 metres as painful.
 
“I had to hammer the last 50, lose whatever I had left in the tank,” said the 20-year-old, who is coached by his sister Haley Bennett-Osborne at the Red Deer Catalina Swim Club. 
 
Earlier in the week Bennett won gold in the 100-m breaststroke plus took silver and broke his own Canadian record in the 200-m freestyle.
 
“I was certainly a lot more comfortable racing tonight,” he said. “I knew there was a chance being so close to my record.”
 
Bennett is the first Canadian man since Benoit Huot to win multiple gold medals at a Paralympics.
 
Huot won five gold at the Athens 2004 Paralympics. He also was the last Canadian man to win three medals at a Paralympics, taking home gold, silver and bronze from London 2012.
 
“I’m quite aware of Benoit before me,” said Bennett. “I hope my performances inspire kids to join the sport. We need more.”
 
Bennett actually raced Huot at the 2018 Canadian trials.
 
“That was my first selection meet,” he said. “I didn’t make the team. It was a quite an experience racing against a legend like that.”
 
Bennett will race the 100-m backstroke on Friday, an event in which he holds the Canadian record.
 
Maxwell led early in the grueling 400 freestyle then went toe-to-toe with Amodeo down the stretch. He touched the wall just .67 behind the Italian who was the silver medallist at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. 
 
Andrei Nikolaev, a neutral Paralympic athlete, was third in 4:24.00.
 
“I’ve always kind of dreamed to come here,” said Maxwell, who is coached by Paul Birmingham at the Edmonton Keyano Swim Club. “Being able to medal here is a whole other thing. That fight for the last 50 made it worth it. I’m happy with it.
 
“There’s been lots of steps along this journey. Tonight was a mental game going in. I felt confident. I’m super happy with how I performed.”
 
Maxwell, who celebrated his 17^th birthday Monday, becomes the youngest Canadian swimmer to win a Paralympic medal since a 16-year-old Aurelie Rivard claimed silver in the 400 S10 freestyle at the London 2012 Games.
 
He’s the youngest Canadian male to earn a medal since Donovan Tildesley claimed bronze in the 200 SM11 IM as a 16-year-old at Sydney 2000.
 
Maxwell and Bennett are roommates in Paris. He was able to watch Bennett win his race in the ready room before his event.
 
“It was something seeing my roommate win a medal right before me,” said Maxwell. “We get to go back to the village tonight both medallists. It’s certainly an experience.”
 
The last time two Canadian men won a Paralympic medal on the same day was at Beijing 2008 when Huot and Tildesley both earned bronze.
 
“That’s kind of crazy,” said Maxwell. “That was a long time ago.”
 
Maxwell has two more events in Paris. He will race the 100-m freestyle on Friday and the 100 fly on Saturday. He holds the Canadian record in both events.
 
In another final, Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., was eighth in the 100-m S7 freestyle in 1:13.90.
 
Routliffe, who trains with Simon Deguire at the High Performance Centre – Quebec in Montreal, said the race helps set her up for Thursday’s 100-m breaststroke. She won that event at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships and holds the Canadian record.
 
“I just get to have fun with this one,” said the 25-year-old, who earned a silver medal in the 200m IM earlier in the week. “It’s great to get back in the water, get the crowd again, feel the energy.
 
“I came here to maximize my potential. Let’s hope we do that.”
 
Canadian Para swimmers have won eight medals in Paris (two gold, four silver, two bronze). That equals the total Canada won three years ago at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics (three gold, three silver, two bronze).
 
Rivard of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., has a silver in the S10 100-m freestyle and a bronze in the 50-m free. Katie Cosgriffe of Burlington, Ont., was third in the 100-m S10 butterfly.
 
On Thursday Rivard will be looking for her third medal in the 400-m S10 freestyle. She has won the race at the last two Paralympics and holds the world record time of 4:24.08.
 
Abi Tripp of Kingston, Ont., will join Routliffe in the 100-m SB7 breaststroke.
Katarina Roxon of Kippens, N.L., and Mary Jibb of Bracebridge, Ont., will compete in the 200-m S9 individual medley. 

Tai, Darbey and Maskill secure series of silvers

From Joshua Murray, Aquatics GB

The ParalympicsGB swimmers were in silver shining form on day seven at La Defense Arena on Wednesday as Alice Tai, Rhys Darbey and Poppy Maskill all boosted Britain's eye-catching medal tally in style.

Darbey and Maskill were two of six GB athletes to compete across the Men's and Women's SM14 200m Individual Medley finals, both putting together brilliant swims to reach the podium, before Tai attacked from the start in the Women's S8 400m Freestyle finale to push for the win and ultimately add a silver to her gold and bronze medals from earlier this Games.

Darbey got the day seven medal count ticking in the Men's SM14 200m Individual Medley to add his first individual Paralympic medal to the Mixed S14 4x100m Freestyle Relay gold from Monday night.

The 17-year-old built into the medley race as it went, sitting fifth at halfway and fourth at the final turn after the breaststroke leg, before launching into an outstanding closing 50m.

Rhys swam the fastest freestyle of the field to claw back and then go past first Dmytro Vanzenko of Ukraine and then Australian Ricky Betar to reach the wall second and claim a superb silver in a personal best time of 2:08.61. Behind him, Will Ellard's strong finish took him to fifth, while Cameron Vearncombe was seventh as three GB competitors played their part in a fantastic showpiece.

"That last 50m, I really had to try my hardest because I could see the Ukrainian next to me and he helped me push that last 50m. I loved that last 50m, I love the back end of a race!" said Rhys afterwards.

"I'm very happy with that, it's my first individual final at a Paralympics so to come second is great, and it's two races out of two that I've won a medal, so I'm really chuffed! I was hoping for a medal, but I definitely didn't think I'd get two and one of them gold. I'm just over the moon, to be honest."

Within moments, one medley silver had become two as Maskill notched the fourth medal of her debut Paralympic Games in the Women's SM14 200m Individual Medley.

Looking to make her mark early, Poppy - gold medallist and world-record holder in the 100m Butterfly - established a lead over the opening half of the race, before being steadily pegged back by eventual champion Valeriia Shabalina on the breaststroke to put them virtually level heading into the final turn.

Ultimately, Shabalina would just hold on over the closing strokes of freestyle to win out in a thrilling battle, with Maskill reaching the wall for silver and yet another Paris medal, clocking a new personal best of 2:23.93 in the process.

Behind them, Louise Fiddes launched her race over the second half of the contest, moving through the field across breaststroke and freestyle to finish fourth, with Paralympic debutant Olivia Newman-Baronius placing sixth. Said Poppy:

"I was just trying to see what I'd got in there and do my best to see what happened in that race. I know I need to get a good lead otherwise I can get overtaken on the breaststroke leg. I couldn't see how close it was, I just knew I had to try hard and see what happened. I could hear the crowd though so I was thinking, 'wow, this must be close!'"

A third ParalympicsGB silver in the space of an hour came courtesy of Tai, who completed her clean sweep of medal colours in Paris with silver in the Women's S8 400m Freestyle.

Having already claimed gold in the S8 100m Backstroke and then bronze in the SM8 200m Individual Medley, Tai's third final of the week saw her take things out hard in lane four after qualifying fastest, in the lane alongside Paralympic legend Jessica Long.

Alice's race plan saw her lead up to and beyond the 300m mark, before Long eventually overtook her with some superior closing speed in the final lengths. Still, this was a medal that meant a lot to Alice, while Brock Whiston - already a double medallist herself this meet - swam well for fifth. Said Tai:

"I knew if I wanted to beat Jess, I was going to have to go out fast and just try to hold on, so that's exactly what I did. But she's such a phenomenal 400m Freestyle swimmer, that's her 30th Paralympic medal, so I knew it was going to be such a hard race. I'm so happy with my time. I couldn't change that swim and I am really happy with the silver. Now I've got the full collection as well!"

In an astonishingly close Men's S12 100m Freestyle finale, Stephen Clegg agonisingly missed out on adding to his Paralympic medal tally by finishing fourth - by a mere 0.02s.

Fast off the blocks, Clegg - in the first of two races for him on the night - was second at the 50m turn and involved in a fierce battle in a front pack of five who were eventually separated by only half-a-second. While Yaroslav Denysenko got to the wall first for gold, it was a blanket finish for the next three, with Clegg ultimately coming fourth, two hundredths of a second behind Raman Salei in bronze and three one hundredths off silver, won by Maksym Veraksa.

Clegg said:

"I said this morning after the heat that it was going to be a battle, and it was. Three one hundredths separating second to fourth is insane. I'm not disappointed, I went into that final going for the win and I knew I had to try something completely different to get it. I went out 0.4s quicker than I've ever been before, so I'm not sitting here sad about my performance - I tried something new and it didn't quite work out in my favour this time."

Later in the session, Clegg returned to the pool as part of the Mixed 49pt 4x100m Freestyle Relay, teaming up with Scarlett Humphrey, Matt Redfern and Rebecca Redfern as the quartet teamed up to smash the British record.

S11 competitor Humphrey got things going from the blocks, before handing over to Matt on leg two and his sister Rebecca - both S13 racers - in the middle on leg three, leaving the team sixth as Rebecca handed over to Stephen.

A storming anchor leg by the University of Edinburgh man moved GB up to fourth, the time of 4:04.12 inside the previous best British mark and setting an exciting platform for this relay moving forward.

"I saw Rebecca come in almost closer to the medals than I anticipated, which was great to see. It's great that we've jumped that far ahead this quickly, in the space of one year, it's fantastic - these guys have done a tremendous job to really push this relay forward," said Clegg.

"There was a lot of pain for me coming off the back of my individual! We've done a tremendous job, and for the future of visually impaired swimming in Britain, it's great to have this relay going forward. I hope that seeing this team come fourth gets a few more people involved in the sport. It's a great sport for visually impaired athletes, and I think there are a lot of prospects for this going forward into LA and Brisbane after that."

In the last individual race of the night, Toni Shaw placed eighth in the Women's S9 100m Freestyle final, six days on from finishing fifth in the 400m event.