Sunday, 22 Sep 2024

Tokyo Paralympics: Andrew Small and Phoebe Paterson Pine secure two more gold medals for Great Britain

Great Britain has won four more medals on day six of the Tokyo Paralympics, following success in archery, the T33 100m and powerlifting.

Wheelchair racer Andrew Small took home gold for ParalympicsGB in the men’s T33 100m final after blitzing his rivals with a time of 17.73 seconds.

His powerful start proved to be crucial as defending champion Ahmed Almutairi of Kuwait threatened to snatch victory, only to cross the line a tenth of a second behind.

Small said: “I definitely felt more comfortable in my ability this time around, and that is all down to the experiences I have had over the last few years. The start was good and that really put me in a good position.

“I’d like to thank my coach [Rick Hoskins], my support team, and my family most of all for all they have gone through over the last two seasons.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work into this. It has been worth all the many training sessions in the garage over zoom. It’s wonderful to have all that work over the last five years pay off.”

A video of Small’s family celebrating his win was posted on ParalympicsGB’s Twitter account in the early hours of Monday morning.

Victory for Small brought ParalympicsGB’s 24th gold of the Games so far.

Fellow Briton Harri Jenkins also made it to the podium after securing a bronze medal in a season’s best time of 18.55secs.

Fellow GB athlete James Freeman finished fourth of the five racers in 19.69secs.

Archery also proved to be a success for Great Britain, with Phoebe Paterson Pine winning gold by eliminating defending champion Jess Stretton.

Games debutant Paterson Pine began a memorable day with a tense 141-140 success over her world number one compatriot in the second round of the women’s individual compound.

The 23-year-old, who has spina bifida, later took Stretton’s crown with a 134-133 win over Chile’s Mariana Zuniga Varela in the decisive contest.

She said: “I’m really bad at maths so I had no idea what I actually needed.

“I saw I shot an eight and was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I shot an eight. That’s horrible’. And then I realised I needed that to win and thought, ‘Maybe that’s not too bad’.

“I still almost feel I’m living in a dream and it won’t settle until I’m with family or looking at the aftermath on my phone.”

Louise Sugden secured a bronze medal in the women’s 86kg powerlifting division.

Former wheelchair basketball player Sugden’s best lift of 131kg was the same as fourth-placed Egyptian Amany Ali but the 37-year-old Briton took the podium place due to being more than a kilogram lighter than her rival.

Her final lift was met with some controversy after it was initially recorded as a no lift for her press sequence. However, it was successfully appealed to see her claim her first Paralympic medal.

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She said: “I still think I’m going to wake up at some point! But I think I’ve got a great coaching team. I’ve worked really hard and I’m just proud that it’s paid off.”

Sugden’s bronze marks three powerlifting medals for ParalympicsGB after bronzes for Mickey Yule and Olivia Broome earlier in the Games.

Swimmer Ellie Robinson is due to defend her S6 50-metre butterfly title on Monday and ParalympicsGB’s equestrians are also going for glory.

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