As Rio 2016 starts to draw to a close, ParalympicsGB’s stars continued to shine brightly on day ten, adding another 21 medals to the team’s ever-growing tally.
Dame Sarah Storey continued to make history as she won her third gold medal of the Games, her 14th Paralympic title, in the women’s C4-5 road race, leaving her on just two fewer than swimmer Mike Kenny, the most successful British Paralympian of all time.
Dame Sarah Storey and Crystal Lane (Photo: on Edition)
Crystal Lane ensured two ParalympicsGB athletes would be on the podium as she won a nail-biting bronze medal behind Storey, while Steve Bate and guide Adam Duggleby added a third cycling medal of the day with bronze in the men’s road race B.
Terry Bywater inspired ParalympicsGB to their third men’s wheelchair basketball bronze in four Games to avenge the fourth-place disappointment of London 2012, as the team clinched a dramatic 82-76 victory over Turkey in overtime.
Elsewhere, Helena Lucas won sailing bronze in the one-person keelboat, while Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell also secured third place in the two-person event.
It was a Paralympic debut to remember for Jo Frith and John Walker as they won W1 mixed team archery gold, with Frith having won individual silver earlier in the day in an all-ParalympicsGB podium line-up, as Jessica Stretton and Vicky Jenkins took gold and bronze respectively.
At the Olympic Stadium Paul Blake won 800m T36 silver to add to the 400m gold he won 24 hours earlier while Maria Lyle picked up her third Rio medal with bronze in the 200m T35.
Four years on from making her Paralympic debut in London, 20-year-old Sophie Kamlish (photo above) finished fourth in the women’s 100m T44 final – the last event of the evening.
The Londoner, who trains in Bath, clocked a time of 13.16, with teammate Laura Sugar one place behind in a personal best 13.37.
Kamlish had set a world record of 12.93 in the heats but was unable to match that as Dutch sprinter Marlou van Rhijn came through in a Paralympic record of 13.02 to take gold.
And ParalympicsGB’s swimmers rounded off the day in style in the pool as they dominated proceedings with nine more medals added to the collection, with Oliver Hynd, Bethany Firth and Hannah Russell all winning gold.
It had rained medals from the very first final of the night for ParalympicsGB as Ellie Robinson set a new British record en route to clinching bronze in the 100m freestyle S6, her second medal of the Games.
Robinson, just 15 years of age, won 50m butterfly gold last Friday, and clocked 1:14.43 to win bronze tonight with teammate Ellie Simmonds finishing in fifth position.
Just one day of sporting action remains at Rio 2016 and for ParalympicsGB, the attention will be on Fort Copacabana where the remaining three athletes – including reigning champion David Weir – compete in the men’s marathon.
Kirkcaldy’s Derek Rae will be first up in the men’s T46 marathon with the 30-year-old having patiently waited for his time to make his Paralympic debut in Rio.
There are then two Brits who will compete in the men’s T54 marathon – Simon Lawson and Weir.
It has already been a busy time for the latter in Rio having competed on the track in the 400m, 1500m, 800m and 4x400m T53/54 relay – although the six-time Paralympic champion will be aiming to sign off on a high as he seeks to defend the title he won at London 2012.
Lawson, like Rae, will also be making his Paralympic Games debut with Sunday his first competitive outing in Rio.
The day then concludes with the Closing Ceremony at the Maracana Stadium, which gets underway at 22.30 BST+1 and 18.30 local time BRST and sees the 2016 Paralympic Games officially draw to a close.
Report courtesy of ParalympicsGB
