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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Michael Butler (earlier) and Luis Miguel Echegaray (later)

Paralympics 2016: Cockroft wins third Rio gold, GB win women's 4x100 medley – as it happened

Britain’s Hannah Cockroft adds the T34 800m Paralympic title to her 100m and 400m golds.
Britain’s Hannah Cockroft adds the T34 800m Paralympic title to her 100m and 400m golds. Photograph: Tasso Marcelo/AFP/Getty Images

What a great way to end it. Team GB with a world record time of 4:45:23. Australia take silver (4:45:85) and Team USA earn the bronze medal with a time of 4:50:34. What a performance from Alice Tai, Claire Cashmore, Steph Slater and Steph Millward. Amazing. That’s it from me, guys. Have a great weekend.

Unbelievable! They did it. And a world record!

Back to swimming: Women’s 4x100 medley is about to start.

Wheelchair rugby. Pool phase group a. What a contest! We’re in the last quarter and Australia are tied with Canada 56-56.

Meanwhile, in the goalball men’s final: The mighty Lithuania are beating USA 9-2. They are, by the way, a FORCE in the sport, which is a mix between handball and bowling and different teams have various styles. Lithuania are all about power. One of their players can zip it along the floor at 47 miles an hour.

Updated

Congrats to Team USA’s Roderick Townsend-Roberts! After winning the men’s long jump T47 yesterday, he also takes gold in the men’s high jump T45/46/47.

Team GB have been truly amazing in Rio. Their medal tally surpassed London 2012 today. Check out the table right here:

This is very cool. Daniel Dias is adored by this crowd: in his career he has 21 medals with 14 of them being gold.

Hello everyone, it’s good to be here. Andrew Mullen, who just won silver in the S5 50m backstroke, talked to C4 after the race.

“It was a sensational crowd, it has been fantastic every night I have raced. Every night I have raced it has got better and better and I have really enjoyed it.”

Luis Miguel Echegaray will see you through the last hour or two of day nine. I’m off to watch the rest of the action at home. Thanks for reading and for your emails and tweets. Bye!

Brazil's Daniel Dias has won his 13th gold medal!

The home crowd go absolutely wild. I think I’m right in saying he’s one medal from becoming the most decorated Paralympian of all time. A delayed start (after some idiot in the crowd shouted out at the gun) didn’t put the Brazilian off, and he walked the 50m backstroke S5. GB’s Andrew Mullan claims the silver and let’s have a special mention for 39-year-old Zsolt Vereczkei of Hungary, who has been on the podium at every Paralympics Games since 1992, a remarkable achievement! Half the swimmers in the pool weren’t even born when he won his first medal!

Updated

Brazil home favourite Daniel Dias has medalled in all six events and he’s favourite to take home the gold in the 50m backstroke S5. GB’s Andrew Mullan goes alongside Dias in lane five …

Turkey have won their third gold medal of the Games, after a comprehensive 4-1 victory over China in the women’s team goalball final.

Here is the top 10 of the latest medal table. For the full medal table, click here.

Medal table top 10.
Medal table top 10. Photograph: Guardian

Updated

GB’s Dame Sarah Storey became the most decorated female British Paralympian of all time at these Paralympics. Read Jacob Steinberg’s feature on here right here.

Stetsenko takes gold after a brilliant second 50m, her time of 59.19 seconds proving enough for gold. Russell comes home in third, she had a lightning start but couldn’t hang on after a mediocre turn. USA’s Rebecca Meyers takes silver, also coming in at under a minute: 59.77secs. Russell is now being interviewed:

I was happy with that performance. There was a false start and I had to compose myself again. Tomorrow I’ve got the 50m freestyle and that means I can finish on a high.

That’s GB’s first medal in the pool tonight. It’s been a bit disappointing in that regard: four fourth-placed finishes, by my reckoning.

Updated

GB’s Hannah Russell was the fastest qualifier in the 100m freestyle S13 heats and she goes in lane four in the final. S13 is a category for athletes with visual impairment, which often means that timing their turn is affected. Ukraine’s Anna Stetsenko, the world record holder, in lane five is her biggest rival …

Updated

If you want to read more on how Gordon Reid beat his GB team-mate Alfie Hewitt in the men’s singles wheelchair tennis final, you can do just that right here.

With day nine in full flow, have a look at the best of the action from day eight in our shiny gallery.

USA women have won the wheelchair basketball final, beating Germany 62-45! That means the USA are just two gold medals behind Ukraine in the medal table.

Updated

The Netherland’s Liesette Bruinsma has won the women’s 200m individual medley (S11) race, cruising past the reigning Olympic and world champion, Mary Fisher of New Zealand after a supreme breaststroke leg. Fisher faded badly in the end, finishing sixth – the blind athlete spent too much energy zig-zagging across her lane in the first two legs. Maja Reichard of Sweden came through in silver and China’s Xie Qing claimed bronze.

Liesette Bruinsma
Liesette Bruinsma also won gold in the women’s 400m freestyle (S11) earlier this week. Photograph: Pilar Olivares/Reuters

Updated

John Walker wins gold for GB in the archery!

It was a tight affair in the final, but the man from Welwyn Garden City, nicknamed Whiskey and who only started archery in 2012, prevailed over David Drahoninsky of the Czech Republic 141-139.

Updated

Gold for David Blair in the men’s F44 discus! Blair’s Olympic-record attempt of 64.11m proving too much for Trinidad and Tobago’s Akeem Stewart and GB’s Dan Greaves, who finished silver and bronze respectively.

David Blair
World-record holder David Blair celebrates. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters

Updated

Ukraine have won the men’s seven-a-side football final, beating Iran 2-1 in extra-time after some crafty and tactical play to run the clock down in the final stages. This is their fifth consecutive Paralympic final – a record – and their third gold medal in this sport. The Iranian players slump to the turf, they are devastated. Remember, there’s not going to be a seven-a-side football competition in four years time in Tokyo, so that might be the last we see of this sport for a long while.

In the men’s discus final (F44), USA’s David Blair has set a new Olympic record with 64.11m, eclipsing his own record of 63.61 set earlier this year in May. Trinidad and Tobago’s Akeem Stewart has also set what would have been a new Paralympic record of 61.70 and GB’s Dan Greaves in currently in bronze. Two throws left for each of the nine finalists, but it’s hard to see anybody but Blair winning that one.

USA are well on their way to gold in the women’s wheelchair basketball final – they are currently 48-27 up on Germany in the third quarter.

USA’s Rebecca Murray is floored as she fights for the ball.
USA’s Rebecca Murray is floored as she fights for the ball. Photograph: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters

Updated

And just as I type that, Ukraine retake the lead! 2-1 with 15 minutes remaining in extra time.

In the men’s seven-a-side football final between Ukraine and Iran, the Asian side have forced the game into extra time. The scores are 1-1 at present.

Hannah Cockroft: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. If I’m honest, I didn’t believe I could do it [win three golds]. It was amazing fun, I’m ready to go again! My fastest this year has been a 2min04 seconds so I’m delighted.”

Kare Adenegan: “I’ve PB’d in all my events, and I saw that time, 2.02 minutes and I was like wow!”

Those two medals mean GB have achieved their medal target of 121 at Rio 2016!

Hannah Cockroft celebrates as she takes another gold.
Hannah Cockroft celebrates as she takes another gold. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters

Updated

GB's Hannah Cockroft wins gold in the T34 800m final!

She wins in a time of 2:00.62, retaining her Paralympic title. That’s three gold medals for her at these Games. Silver for USA’s Alexa Halko. Bronze for GB’s 15-year-old Kare Adenegan, a lifetime best time for her. Great effort!

Updated

Here comes Hannah Cockroft in the T34 800m final. She swings round the first bend in a shot and already has a big lead heading into the first back straight ….

Australia’s Madison Elliot sets an new world record in the women’s 50m freestyle S8 with a time of 29.73! Her compatriot Lakeisha Patterson takes silver. Another fourth place for GB!

Back to the pool, and the USA’s McKenzie Coan beats her rival and team-mate Cortney Jordan in the women’s S7 100m freestyle. GB’s Susie Rodgers finishes in fourth, an agonising seven hundredths of a second outside China’s Huang Xuechen, who finished third. That means that GB is ‘stuck’ on 119 medals at present.

GB’s James Crisp is absolutely crestfallen after he also finished fourth in the men’s S9 100m backstroke final. “I’ve been racing for GB for 19 years, but you’re only as good as your last race, and that was god-damn awful,” says the 33-year-old.

Updated

It’s half-time in the men’s seven-a-side football final, Ukraine lead Iran 1-0. This is the first time in the entire tournament that Iran have gone a goal down.

2016 Rio Paralympic Games - Day NineGreat Britain’s Gordon Reid celebrates his gold with Alfie Hewett and Joachim Gerard who took bronze.
2016 Rio Paralympic Games - Day Nine
Great Britain’s Gordon Reid celebrates his gold with Alfie Hewett and Joachim Gerard who took bronze. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Updated

Gorden Reid wins gold in the wheelchair tennis singles final!

It was easy in the end, beating his GB team-mate Alfie Hewitt 6-2, 6-1. Silver for Hewitt, who adds that to the silver he won WITH Reid in the men’s wheelchair doubles.

Great Britain’s Gordon Reid celebrates taking gold.
Great Britain’s Gordon Reid celebrates taking gold. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Updated

What has been your moment of the Paralympics so far? Do email michael.butler@theguardian.com or tweet @michaelbutler18 with your suggestions. Personally, I loved the Canadian sitting volleyball player, Leanne Muldrew, doing sign language during the national anthem before each of her country’s matches as they are being sung by her team-mates. The sign language interpreter looks like she’s dancing – mesmeric. I’m doing my best to find some footage for you, but do email/tweet me if you find any yourselves.

We mentioned his exploits earlier, and Italy’s Alex Zanardi has won gold again, his second of the Games in the handcycling mixed team relay – Vittorio Podesta and Luca Mazzone also featuring in the three-man team. USA and Belgium took second and third.

Italy’s Alessandro Zanardi celebrates after winning another gold in the men’s H2-5 road cycling team relay.
Italy’s Alessandro Zanardi celebrates after winning another gold in the men’s H2-5 road cycling team relay. Photograph: Mauro Pimentel/AP

Updated

Clare Balding has just been talking to a man known as ‘Shark Boy’ (not the professional wrestler) South African star, Achmat Hassiem, who lost his leg in a shark attack 10 years ago just off the coast of Cape Town. Hassiem was a lifeguard, and deliberately drew the attention of a 4.7-metre Great White Shark in order to save his brother from an attack. In February he was named a Global Shark Guardian by the United Nations Save Our Sharks Coalition, and plans pursue his conservation role full-time when he retires from competition after the Rio Games. Hassiem took eighth position in the men’s S10 100m butterfly final in Rio. What a guy.

Back in Rio, a big night in the pool awaits tonight. GB have 10 medal prospects:

Updated

In the all-GB wheelchair tennis men’s final, Gordon Reid has won the first set 6-2 against Alfie Hewett, after a close start in which both players broke each other’s serve. Reid has also won his first service game, it’s 1-0 there now with Hewitt to serve.

Gordon Reid celebrates a point on his way to taking the first set.
Gordon Reid celebrates a point on his way to taking the first set. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Updated

Quite a match in the wheelchair rugby, aka Murderball between world No1 USA and world No3 Japan in the group stage. It’s 39-39 at the end of the third quarter, one quarter to go. If the scores are all level at full-time, we’ll have a three-minute period of overtime.

For a quick explainer on wheelchair rugby, click here.

Murderball
Murderball. Photograph: Guardian

Updated

It’s good, but it’s not quite right.

The men’s seven-a-side football final is also just about to start. Ukraine, budding for their third gold medal in a record fifth final, take on Iran. There’s a big old crowd at the Deodoro Stadium. Lovely stuff.

The men’s wheelchair tennis final, between GB’s Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett, is underway. Hewitt is the first to strike in the first set, breaking in the third game, but Reid breaks straight back, forcing an error after a nifty drop shot. The scores are 2-2 in the first set. The arm strength on show here – chasing down lost causes, changing direction and then swatting a winner from the baseline – is quite remarkable.

There’s an almighty battle in the men’s sitting volleyball: Germany tied the scores at one set apiece, winning the second set with this cracking point …

… and the Ukrainians have just taken a 2-1 lead after a 25-19 score in the third set.

More gold for GB!

Natasha Baker has won her country’s third dressage gold of the day, bopping to glory in the individual freestyle-grade II! That’s GB’s 54th gold and Natasha’s second of the Games, repeating her double triumph in London 2012. Remember, GB will also collect the team championship gold medal later, too.

Updated

It’s fair to say that David Weir hasn’t had the best of Paralympics after his gold-laden antics at London 2012. Weir announced his retirement from racing yesterday and has just released this statement.

Who has had the best name at this year’s Paralympics? Email your suggestions, and indeed any other thoughts to michael.butler@theguardian.com or tweet @michaelbutler18.

Bulgarian Ruzhdi Ruzhdi certainly is a favourite for me, and he has broke his own world record the final of the men’s F55 shot put, with a mammoth 12.33m. His previous mark was 12.04m. The silver went to Iran’s Hamed Amiri and the bronze went to Poland’s Lech Stoltman.

The bronze medal matches are underway in the goalball. The US men beat their Brazilian counterparts 3-2 and in the women’s, it’s currently 6-5 to Brazil against Sweden in second overtime. In about two-and-a-half hours, the gold medal matches will start: it’s China v Turkey in the women’s final and USA v Lithuania in the men’s final.

Just in case you’re unfamiliar with goalball, here’s a handy explainer.

Goalball
GOAL! Photograph: Guardian

Anna Kessell also wrote this piece on the sport two years ago. But it’s well worth a read.

Updated

Here’s what Lee Pearson had to say after his 11th (!!!) Paralympic gold medal for GB.

I do have the most amazing horse. I wanted to go in their powerful, I wanted to go down that centre line like I owned it. I thought ‘I’m not playing safe today, I’m going to show the judges how we ride.’

Lee Pearson rides on his way to taking gold in the equestrian individual freestyle test grade IB.
Lee Pearson rides on his way to taking gold in the equestrian individual freestyle test grade IB. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA

Updated

Here’s the latest medal table

Paralympic medal table
The latest standings: top 10 Photograph: Guardian

For the full medal table, with all 73 medal-winning nations, click here.

Day nine catch up

GB have now surpassed 50 gold medals, after Paul Blake won the T36 400m.

This figure has since risen to 53 after David Smith won gold in the BC1 individual Boccia, Lee Pearson also cantered to victory in the Equestrian dressage (individual freestyle, grade 1b), and Sophie Christiansen, part-time tech analyst in London, part-time individual freestyle (grade 1a) champion, who just edged out her GB team-mate Anne Dunham.

Elsewhere China have added a third archery gold with Zhou Jiamin beating Lin Yueshan into second place in a shootoff in the compound women’s open gold medal match.

The Netherlands women’s wheelchair basketball team have won bronze after a comprehensive 76-34 win over Team GB in the bronze medal match.

Poland will face China in the men’s foil wheelchair fencing final after beating France in their semi-final. China beat Hong Kong to earn their place in the final.

The biggest cheer of the day, though has been reserved for Brazil’s reigning world champion Silvania Costa de Oliveira, who has just won gold in the women’s long jump T11. Listen to that roar!

Costa de Oliveira, who’s brother Ricardo was the first Brazilian to win gold in these Paralympics, was part of Brazil’s silver medal-winning quartet in the women’s 4x100m T11-13 on Wednesday.

“I think my mother might have got a heart attack!” said Costa de Oliveira. “I’m so happy, I need to get my feet back on the ground because I feel like I’m still in the air after that jump. Since August I’ve felt the great the support from the Brazilian people and this victory is like a cake where everyone who contributed with an ingredient can join the celebration party.”

Updated

If you want to read a bit more on Alex Zanardi, why not delve into the archives and read this from the Observer in 2002, less than a year after his accident, and this interview with the Guardian in 2007, before the Italian went on to become a three-time Paralympics champion/ (two golds in London 2012, one in Rio 2016).

Hello world. Let’s start with this.

As we enter final weekend, athletes, Rio fans, armchair supporters, MBM readers, MBM writers, and real journalists the world over can start to assess what impression these Paralympics have left. For some, including the broadcaster Alex Brooker, above, it has meant an awful lot – and that is some speech: heartfelt, unscripted, and live on UK television last night. Others prefer to separate the narrative and context and simply prefer to revel in the spectacle of it all – the elation, disappointment, crowds, blood, sweat and tears that come with a world-class event. Whatever your inclinations, we can all agree it has been a ruddy good Games.

Tonight, keep an eye out for Hannah Cockroft and GB team-mates Mel Nicholls and Kare Adenegan as they go for a gold-silver-bronze clean sweep in the T34 800m final in the Olympic Stadium. In the pool, we’ve got a host of swimming finals to get your juices flowing as well as wheelchair fencing, basketball and tennis, where GB’s Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid face each other in the singles final. The pair won silver earlier this week together, in the men’s wheelchair doubles. But there’s plenty more, including football 7-a-side and goalball golds, to make sure you don’t spend your Friday glued to Chelsea v Liverpool.

Updated

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