Teenager Poppy Maskill won Britain's first gold medal at the Paralympics, storming through the pool to win the S14 women's 100m butterfly in world record time, a moment she described as “incredible”.
Making her Paralympic debut, the 19-year-old from Middlewich took the lead and held off the challenge of Hong Kong's Yui Lam Chan to finish in one minute and three seconds, smashing the previous record by 0.33 seconds. Extraordinarily, that record had been set just four months earlier by 17-year-old Olivia Newman-Baronius, also of Great Britain, who finished fourth on Thursday.
“I just thought I'd go in with hope, give it my all and see what happens, so that's what I did,” said Maskill, who will return to compete in the S14 backstroke, freestyle and SM14 individual medley at the Paris Games. “It gave me a confidence boost.” [to win this race]”But we'll see what happens with the rest of the Olympics,” she said.
“It feels surreal to be competing in my first Paralympics. My mum, dad, sister and grandma are all here and I can't wait to see them. It feels really strange to be Great Britain's first Paralympic gold medallist. I think the only thing I'll do now is call my parents and go to bed.”
Competing in the S14 class for athletes with intellectual disabilities, Maskill and Newman-Baronius are part of a new generation of British Para swimmers competing in the pool, with 15 of the 26-strong team making their debut. Fellow debutant William Ellard won silver in the S14 100m butterfly in the evening session.
Relatively veteran 27-year-old Tully Carney doubled her gold medal tally in the final race of the night, surpassing her silver medal from Tokyo to win the S5 200m freestyle title. Carney swam calmly to fend off the challenge of Ukraine's Irina Poida and spoke of her delight after the race, having recovered from a head injury and health issues that had threatened to rule her out of the Olympics.
“I'm so happy, I'm speechless,” she said. “I wanted revenge in Tokyo. I wasn't satisfied with the silver medal, so to win gold in the 200m freestyle is unbelievable. I'm so happy.”
“The concussion was really tough and then the mental issues for the next three or four months were really tough. Even a few weeks ago I wasn't sure if I would be able to go out and compete or how many events I'd be able to do, so I'm really grateful for all the support from my team to allow me to come here and do this.”
The capacity crowd at La Défense Arena witnessed two world records that night, the second set by China's Chen Yi in the women's S10 50m freestyle, as well as two new Paralympic records with 15 events decided in the first night's session, but the main event for the French fans was the first race, when local favourite Hugo Didier won the gold medal in the men's S9 400m freestyle.
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Chased by Italy's Simone Barlaam with two lengths to go, Didier produced a spectacular kick to overtake the Italian and take the lead for the second time. Didier, a civil engineer born with a clubfoot, became the first French Para athlete to have a cardboard cutout of his own head waved at him by a spectator.
The final notable performance came from the Brazilian known as Gabrielzinho. The only armless swimmer in the men's S2 100m backstroke final won a closely fought race and won the affection of the crowd, bowing to applause on the medal podium and accepting the first of the three gold medals he promised to bring back to the city of Juiz de Fora.
