PARIS: British swimmers Tully Kearney and Maisie Summers-Newton stormed to gold medals on the second day of competition at the Paralympics in Paris on Friday.

Kearney and Summers-Newton’s efforts brought Britain level with Paralympic heavyweights China in the overall medals table on six golds.

Kearney, 27, who was born with cerebral palsy, defended her title in the 100m freestyle S5, less than 24 hours after also winning the 200m freestyle.

Summers-Newton, who was born with achondroplasia; a condition that affects how bones develop, also held on to her title from the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago but in the women’s 200m individual medley SM6.

In other events in the La Defense Arena pool, Hong Yang added a third swimming medal for China as he won the 200m individual medley SM6.

Israel’s world record Ami Omer Dadoan followed up his Paralympic record time in the heats of the 100m freestyle S4 with gold in the final.

China had leapt to the top of the medals table after the first day of competition on Thursday and quickly added a fifth gold on Friday when the athletics got underway at the Stade de France.

Zhou Xia sprinted to the women’s T35 100m title, for people with impaired coordination, in a time of 13.58sec.

Organisers said the Paris Paralympics were headed towards record ticket sales as the global event continues its growth 12 years after getting a huge boost in London.

They said more than 2.1 million tickets had been sold, with 500,000 still available and 300,000 in reserve.

A record 2.7 million were sold for London 2012, though International Paralympic Committee spokesperson Craig Spence said Tokyo would have beaten that mark if it had not been for the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Yesterday alone, we sold 60,000 tickets,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps told a press conference.

“We’re almost sold out at venues like the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Palais and the Velodrome and we had to increase the capacity at the Chateau de Versailles (where the para-equestrian competitions are held),” Paris 2024 general director Etienne Thobois said.

Ticket sales, however, were not the only factor to take into account for the success of the Paralympics, Spence said.

“I think if you look at the statistics here, we’ve had to cap the number of media attending for the first time ever, to 1,000,” Spence said. “We have more rights holders than ever before broadcasting these Games to record audiences so we are heading in the right direction.”

On Thursday, Francesco Bocciardo and Carlotta Gilli launched much-fancied Italy’s search for multiple swimming golds as they both successfully defended their titles.

There was bitter disappointment though for Britain’s Kadeena Cox after her eight-year reign as C4-5 time trial champion ended when she crashed in the velodrome just metres after pushing off.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2024