It’s been another great day for Paralympics GB with Gold medals in Swimming, Equestrian and Rowing and Great Britain has moved up to second position in the medal table.
Swimming
Jessica-Jane Applegate won ParalympicsGB’s third swimming gold in four days as she stormed to the 200m Freestyle title on day four of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Having qualified fastest, the 16 year old was lying third for the first three lengths as the Netherlands’ world champion Marlou van der Kulk led the race out.
But taking inspiration from a deafening roar as she turned for the last time, the Briton soared past van der Kulk and Australia’s eventual silver medallist Taylor Corry in the final 50m to claim gold at her first major international. Having taken two seconds from her personal best with her Paralympic record of two minutes 12.63 seconds, Applegate admitted she was determined to make an impression in her final appearance of the Games.
“I had to give everything I have because that was my last race and I knew it wouldn’t matter if I collapsed at the end of the race,” She said
Athletics
Steph Reid leapt to a Paralympic record for her F44 class to win silver in the F42/44 Long Jump. She started off with a no jump in the opening round, but she soon got into the swing of things, following with 5.08m in the second round and then the Paralympic record jump of 5.28m in round three.
That put her into second overall, with Australia’s Kelly Cartwright leading the event, which combines athletes from F42 and F44 classes. The Australian had already produced a world record for her class to lead the field.
Reid, who trains in Loughborough, couldn’t improve on her performance in her final three jumps, but had already done enough to claim silver, with Marie-Amelie le Fur, France’s F44 world record holder, unable to close the gap with her final jump.
Reid said she was ‘gutted but thrilled’ – thrilled to win silver but gutted that she couldn’t convert it to gold.
“When I’d had the sixth jump, and I knew it wasn’t enough to win, I have to admit I walked away disappointed. The truth is there’s something really special about just giving your best in a situation. That is what I did.
she goes in the T44 100m final at 21:32 –
Rowing
Britain’s rowers claimed gold in the mixed Coxed four, Pamela Relph, Naomi Riches, Dave Smith, James Roe and cox Lily van den Broecke overcame equipment failure to win Britain’s first rowing gold.
The Britons took gold at last year’s World Championships in Bled and again in this year’s World Cup at Munich but knew they face a tough race against the Canadian and German teams. As if to make their task harder, they suffered what Van den Broecke called an ‘equipment failure’ in warm-up when their speed coach, which shows stroke rate, fell in the water. However they took the lead after half way and although the Germans applied pressure at the end, the GB boat held on to win by half a length lead in 3:19.38.
For Aylesbury’s Pamela Relph it was an overwhelming experience. “I can’t believe that this season is over and we did exactly what we needed to do,” said the 22 year old. “I am blown away by the crowd and so proud of my crew.”
Equestrian
Sophie Wells won dressage silver for Britain at Greenwich Park on when she was second in the grade IV section of the individudal Championship test at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Wells marked her Paralympic debut with victory in her grade of the Team test on Friday, raising expectations of a gold medal in the individual test this morning. But despite improving her score to 76.323%, she had to settle for second behind Michelle George of Belgium after making an ‘uncharacteristic’ error on her horse Pinocchio.
The 22 year old from Newark in Nottinghamshire scored 75.906% in the Team test, but she had to follow George today knowing the Belgian had produced a polished display worth 77.065 on her ride Rainman.
“I don’t usually hear the commentary as I’m going into the ring, but today I heard it – I heard what a good score Michele had got,” said Wells. “It was very difficult to block that out during the test. It wasn’t the best preparation.
“We made a mistake in a simple movement, when he trotted instead of walking, and you can’t make up for things like that.”
And the good news continued, when later in the day it was confirmed that Great Britain had also won the Team title. Lee Pearson, Deborah Criddle, Sophie Christiansen and Sophie Wells took the gold medal and a fifth successive team title for Great Britain, ahead of Germany and Ireland, with a Paralympic record 468.817.
Goalball
Great Britain’s women claimed their first Goalball victory of the 2012 Paralympics with a 3-1 win over Brazil. GB came from 1-0 down to score three unanswered goals and give themselves a good chance of qualifying from group C.
Sportsister, The Women’s Sports Magazine
Photo credit: Paralympics GB
