Key events
Jordan and Khan win women’s B 1000m Time Trial tandem final
Off go Jordan and Khan, who like to start slow, and they whittle the time down, and it goes to the wire, the back straight beckons. Australia’s Gallagher claps the winners. Nice sporting behaviour, the Brits won by half a second. They smashed it.
Britain’s riders denied by Australia’s pair of Gallagher and Ward, who power along, and then squeak over the line just as they make it across. 1:07.533 is the time to beat, and it’s Lizzie Jordan and Danni Khan who have the opportunity.
Sophie Unwin, with Jenny Holl her pilot, sets off after her GB teammates’s time, and they go below the Fachie time and there’s just two riders left. A bronze has been guaranteed. 1:07.879 is the time to beat.
Now, it’s the Women’s B 1000m Time Trial tandem final. Britain’s Lora Fachie has just beaten her Irish opponent, and must wait to see how the others get on.
Van Gass takes gold for GB, Graham settles for silver
Van Gass and Graham go for it, from the b of the bang. And Van Gass is off to a flier, and starts opening up a huge lead. Van Gass has a lead of 2.5 seconds with only a third left. Van Gass has Graham, earlier this morning a world-record holder, in his sights, just the length of a straight between them. Full Gass ahead for gold. An awesome ride for a third gold.
The C3 3,000m individual pursuit final will see Brit on Brit action when GB’s Jaco van Gass and Finlay Graham go for it on the velodrome. That’s imminent, and a guarantee of gold. It’s a rerun of Tokyo in 2021, with Van Gass winning last time out.
France’s Alexandre Leaute takes gold in the 3000m pursuit, beating Belgium’s Edwoud Vromant. He’d already smashed the world record in the earlier session. Robertson seems happy enough with his bronze. “To be a medallist in this team is incredible and it proves that the programme works and the support behind us works.”
Lovely quotes from cycling silver medallist Blaine Hunt: ““My wife sleeps with three bikes in the bedroom. At least one in the front room. There’s about five in the shed. I miss out on family things. My nan died before I came here. They’re postponing the funeral so I can be there. It’s things like that you miss out on.”
Robertson claims a bronze in the C2 3000m pursuit
Back to the cycling track: the C2 3000m pursuit bronze medal final, with Matt Robertson taking on Japan’s Shota Kawamoto, and getting off to a fine start before his rival begins to pull the situation back by the halfway mark. Robertson seems to be sailing to his medal, with his last lap to go and it’s a victory lap. Great ride.
More on wheelchair rugby, a unisex event breaking barriers.
A dramatic win for Japan – 45-42 – over USA in the wheelchair rugby.
Korey Boddington wins gold in the men’s C4-5 1,000m time trial.
Boddington is half a second up on the first lap, 4/10ths in the second, and in the final lap he holds on to win by 0.126. Blaine Hunt takes silver. Alfonso Cabello takes bronze, and Jody Cundy takes fourth. “All I have in my legs is gone,” says Cundy. “A little bit disappointed, very disappointed.”
Cundy has won a medal every time since 1996. But here goes Blaine Hunt…who is quite a way down but then powers his last lap the page goes green: 1.01.776 is the time to beat for Korey Boddington. Hunt guaranteed silver.
Good afternoon, Jody Cundy has just smashed Archie Atkinson, and by a second on the Men’s C4-5 1,000m Time Trial final. He must now wait to see the other riders and see if he can hold on for a a medal. The time is 1:02:504.
I’m about to make way for your guide for this afternoon, John Brewin. Before I go, a quick, possibly Guardian-contract-contravening wave to my cousin, Welsh Athletics’ Sue Maughan, who is among the sizeable British officials contingent in Paris who’ll be doing their level best to ensure the published schedule at least approximates what you see on your TV screens and read about in these blogs.
When you see the width and depth of the schedules in some of these sessions – particularly athletics and swimming – you’ll appreciate that keeping things ticking along is no mean feat.
I’m sure the athletics community around the Colwyn Bay area salutes you, Sue, as do I.
And with that, here’s John to huff at such shamelessness. Enjoy the rest of day two, everyone!
It’s a busy day in the badminton. To be fair, it’s a busy day in everything. Britain’s Daniel Bethell, SL3 badminton silver medallist in Tokyo, has a second group-stage victory to his name, having already eased to a win over Wojtek Czyz yesterday.
Today he’s taken another handsome two-set victory, beating Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara 21-9, 21-4 at La Chapelle Arena. If you missed the Czyz post-match piece from yesterday, featuring a small cameo from one Jürgen Norbert Klopp, do take the time – it’s utterly lovely. About as perfect an attitude to being at a global event as you’ll ever come across, and even more tremendous when you know Czyz already boasts seven Paralympic medals in athletics, including four golds.
Today sees four wheelchair rugby matches. First up today was a drum-tight group-stage affair between Great Britain and Denmark. Following Britain’s 58-55 victory over Australia on day one, it was nip and tuck all the way at Champ-de-Mars Arena.
Britain held a one-point advantage at the end of the first three of four periods – 14-13, 28-27 and 41-40 respectively. Jamie Stead gave his side breathing space with 25 seconds remaining, stretching the lead to three points before Kaare Momme Nielsen scored at the last to make it a final score of 55-53.
USA v Japan is in the closing stages … and it’s 35-35. Who wants it?
Plenty of action still to come, but tons has already been photographed. Check out our pick of the day two images so far …
More from this morning’s briefing mail …
One of the British stars of Tokyo, Maisie Summers-Newton, returns to the pool hoping to add to the two golds she won three years ago. She is the world record holder in the SM6 200m individual medley (final, 5pm BST) and broke her own record by a second and a half in Berlin this year. Now 22, Summers-Newton has combined preparing for the Games with training to become a teacher and says she’s ready for the pressure in Paris. ‘There’s a lot of pressure, which I put on myself. I’ve tried to remove it, but don’t think I can. But it’s because I have that passion to do well. I’m getting stronger, and I’ve got that fire in my belly.’
Look out too for the T47 men’s 100m (5.30pm BST), where Brazil’s Petrúcio Ferreira will be looking to make it three in a row.
At Roland Garros, the tennis got under way today. This was from this morning’s Paralympics briefing (sign up if you haven’t already) …
The tennis competitions begin with the men’s singles and women’s doubles. On Court Philippe-Chatrier the 45-year-old world No 24 Frédéric Cattanéo provides some home interest, taking on the Netherlands’ Maarten ter Hofte, 25 years his junior but also five places lower in the world rankings. Second on Suzanne Lenglen Lucy Shuker, GB’s co-flagbearer at the opening ceremony, and Abbie Breakwell take on the Dutch pairing of Jinte Bos and Lizzy de Greef in the women’s doubles.
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Ter Hofte v Cattanéo is in the early knockings, while Shuker and Breakwell v Bos and De Greef are about to commence. Play!
Inevitably, while I’m playing catch-up from while I wasn’t here … athletes are looking over their shoulders saying: “Get a move on, we’re being brilliant here.”
In qualifying for the C3 3,000m individual pursuit, ParalympicsGB’s Jaco van Gass spanked his own world record to the moon. His previous best mark of 3:17.593, set in Tokyo, has been comprehensively Tipp-Exed out thanks to a barnstorming ride of 3:15.488, set a short time ago, in Paris.
Circa 3.26pm BST, he will race his teammate Finlay Graham for gold.
In the remaining two medal events from the morning session at the Stade de France … José Gregorio Lemos of Colombia is now a double Paralympic champion … and another world-record setter! His throw of 63.81m in the F38 (coordination impairments) javelin had room to spare in taking the gold, and massively improved his own previous best mark of 61.76m, set last November. Vladyslav Bilyi (52.86m) of Ukraine and China’s An Dongquan (51.97m) couldn’t live with that form but will have fuzzy glows this day with silver and bronze medals respectively.
The brilliant Zhou Xia of China showed her class, steaming to gold in the T35 (coordination impairments) 100m final – her 13.58sec run consigned compatriot Guo Qianqian to second place, while Preethi Pal of India took the bronze. Still only 25, that makes five Paralympic golds for Zhou, who won 100m and 200m golds in Rio and Tokyo.
Bit more catch-up from this morning’s action … more track and field event medals were decided …
Erica Castaño of Colombia, who was fourth in F55 discus in Tokyo, went three better this time around, taking gold with a best throw of 26.70m. Once again the throwing margins at the top were tight, with China’s Dong Feixia – gold medallist at the last two Games – pipped by just 3cm. Mexico’s Rosa María Guerrero repeated her bronze medal from three years ago. The F55 category is one of the seated throws – it relates to “limb deficiency, leg length difference, impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement”. Check out the World Para-Athletics website for much more detail on these.
In the T11 (vision impaired) women’s long jump, Uzbekistan’s Asila Mirzayorova added to her compatriot’s earlier F51 shot put silver – she took gold with a leap of 5.24m ahead of China’s Zhou Guohua (4.91m) and Alba García Falagan of Spain (4.76m).
GB equestrian star Pearson suspended amid inquiry
Per PA: British Equestrian has confirmed Sir Lee Pearson – Great Britain’s third most successful Paralympian – is suspended amid an ongoing investigation into his conduct following his non-selection for Paris 2024. The 50-year-old won 14 golds between 2000 and 2021, a total bettered only by cyclist Dame Sarah Storey and swimmer Mike Kenny. Pearson – GB’s flag bearer for Rio 2016 – has not competed since March 2023. He declined to comment on his suspension but has, on social media, expressed ambitions of returning at Los Angeles in 2028. A British Equestrian statement read:
“British Equestrian and British Dressage are aware of concerns and allegations that have arisen around an individual within the dressage community. In accordance with our own procedures, the matter is under active investigation and the individual is suspended from both organisations while that investigation takes place. No further comment will be made at this time.”
Equestrian events are scheduled to begin on Tuesday at the Château de Versailles.
Brazil’s Agripino wins gold and sets world record in T11 5,000m
What a start! First up in athletics on the smart, fast purple track at the Stade de France was the T11 (vision impairment) 5,000m … and Brazil’s Júlio César Agripino took over five seconds off the world record with a superb time of 14:48.85 as he stormed to gold. It surpassed the mark set at May’s world championships by his compatriot and the defending champion, Yeltsin Jacques – who, yep, is named after Boris Yeltsin.
Kenya Karasawa of Japan took silver in an area record of 14:51.48 ahead of Yeltsin, who completed a podium sweep of runners who all went below the previous world record of 14:53.97. The world champion took well over a second from his own PB, finishing in 14:52.61. The result means the same podium peeps but different medals all-round from the worlds in Kobe, where the order was Yeltsin, Agripino, Karasawa.
Kudos as always to the guide runners in the visually-impaired track events – sharing Agripino’s glory were Romario Santos Viana, Micael Batista and Guilherme Ademilson. The winner collapsed to the track in a mixture of exhaustion and elation at the finish, but was soon helped up to a raucous reception from the crowd.
Elsewhere, gold for Tunisia! Raoua Tlili took gold in the F41 (short stature) shot put with a season’s best of 10.40m. That effort pipped Uzbekistan’s Kubaro Khakimova by just four centimetres, but her 10.36m was an area record. Antonella Ruiz Diaz of Argentina took bronze with 9.58m.
Preamble
Good day. In fact a cracking one already in Paris, as the athletics action got off the best kind of start with an outstanding world-record performance in the very first track event of these Games at the Stade de France (of which more shortly).
Coming up there’s plenty more track and field, 14 gold medals to be decided in a loaded swimming programme, track cycling finals, taekwondo finals, archery, badminton, sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, tennis, table tennis, goalball and boccia.
We’ll be pointing you to the pick of the action as it arises. But there’s plenty to catch you up on from this morning …
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