ParalympicsGB enjoyed successes in triathlon, boccia, archery and swimming on day 5 of the Paris Paralympics (Monday 2 September 2024).

Number 1 on the Richter scale!
Megan Richter and Dave Ellis have delivered two triathlon gold medals for ParalympicsGB.

Richter won the women’s PTS4 title while Dave Ellis (with guide, Luke Pollard) was victorious in the men’s PTVI.

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Richter had to claw back a two-minute deficit behind Hannah Moore in the run and was evidently shocked to have come out on top at the finish line, commenting: “Did that really just happen?”

Commenting on the River Seine, which in recent days has been declared unfit for competition, she said: “I didn’t mind the swim. Actually, I think well done to Paris for trying to clean up their biggest river, I can’t imagine swimming in the Thames through London.”

Roll With It
Stephen McGuire dominated Colombia’s Edilson Chica Chica to win a gold medal in the BC4 individual boccia tournament. McGuire who has taken part in three previous Paralympics – and lost at the semi-final stage in each, pulled out a tactical masterclass to win his first Paralympic medal.

McGuire scooped one of the last spots on the team after initially failing to qualify. This was the latest tough break McGuire faced after an 18-month absence from the sport after falling shortly after his return from the Tokyo Games.

Boccia is the only Paralympic sport with no equivalent in the Olympics. The British Paralympic Association recently revealed that a quarter of the UK’s 1.5 million disabled schoolchildren did not take part in PE lessons. Boccia GB’s coach, Claire Morrison, said: “This sport allows someone with a severe impairment achieve in high-level sport, that’s why it’s so special.”

Roommate rivalry
Louise Fiddes grabbed SB14 100m breaststroke gold at La Defense Arena in a time of 1min 15.47secs, with her victory just 15 minutes after her roommate, Ellie Challis, achieved her maiden Paralympic title in the S3 50m backstroke. Fiddes later revealed that watching Challis sprint to a new British record and medal helped her to shake off any nerves ahead of her own final.

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Lucky seven
Jodie Grinham and Nathan Macqueen won mixed team archery gold, not only making history as the first ParalympicsGB duo to do so, but also because Grinham is seven months’ pregnant – making her the person at the most advanced state of pregnancy ever to compete at a Paralympics.

The pair ended with a perfect score, beating Iran 155-151, although an eight from Macqueen on the penultimate end caused something of a ‘pregnant pause’ in procedures.

Incredibly, Grinham had already won bronze in the individual compound tournament.

A tale of two cities
Jonnie Peacock seemed on course for victory in the T64 100m final, leading the race at the 60m mark, before fading to fifth place. Peacock who burst onto the Paralympic stage in London in 2012 defended his title at Rio 2016 but shared a bronze medal in Tokyo three years ago, after the finish was declared a dead heat.

The gold was won by Guity Guity of Costa Rica, who achieved a new Paralympic world record of 10.65 seconds. Peacock blamed his poor season on changes he’d made to his running blade.

Crash, bang, wallop
ParalympicsGB finished fourth in the wheelchair rugby tournament after a narrow 50-48 defeat to Australia. The match was a tense and tight affair from start to finish but Ryley Batt’s 28 tries in 32 minutes gave the edge to the London 2012 and Rio 2016 champions. (ParalympicsGB’s vice-captain, Stuart Robinson, also scored 28 tries.)

 

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