Paris 2024 Paralympics day eight: GB golds in pool, Masters doubles up – as it happened | Paris Paralympic Games 2024

We’re signing off now but it looks like the US will face Great Britain in the men’s wheelchair basketball final. They’re 43-34 up with seven minutes left of the third quarter. Still plenty of time for the Canadians to turn things around though.

A gold medal chance for Team GB in the men’s wheelchair team foil final. They lead China 20-15 after four rounds. China in real danger of missing out on a 5,645th gold of these Games here.

USA lead Canada in the men’s wheelchair basketball semi-final, 40-32. The winner will play Great Britain for gold. The Americans have won gold at the last two Games.

Well, that was pretty convincing then. Pembroke was the reigning champion and just about showed why after breaking the F13 world record twice to claim gold. He broke the record the first time with a throw of 71.15m. That was good but his next one was 74.49m, placing him miles (OK, metres) ahead of silver medalist Ali Pirouj of Iran (69.74m).

USA face Canada in the men’s wheelchair basketball semi-final. The Americans lead 19-16 early in the second quarter.

… a great fifth penalty from Olivera puts Argentina head in the men’s blind football semi-final. Brazil must score, and it’s thrashed into the bottom corner. But Brazil miss their next spot-kick after Argentina convert theirs, inflicting the first (sort of) defeat in their rival’s Paralympic history. A huge shock in was former world player of the year Ricardinho who missed the decisive penalty too. Argentina will play France in the final.

Brazil’s remarkable run of golds in men’s blind football – they’ve never failed to win the title at the Paralympics – is in jeopardy after their semi-final with old rivals Argentina goes to penalties. Both teams score their first penalties, then both miss the second, Nonato then has to score Brazil’s third penalty to keep his team in the tournament and duly blasts it home. Argentina then miss their fourth effort … but Brazil miss too! We continue…

We have a world record in the men’s F13 javelin final. GB’s Dan Pembroke, the reigning champion, claimed the record with a throw of 71.15m, beating the previous mark by 14cm. I think it’s safe to say he’s favourite to win gold again.

Tanya Aldred

Even in the story-laden world of the Paralympics, where things are never monochrome, it is hard to trump getting your leg bitten off by a shark one year, and swimming for medals in Paris the next.

Yet that is the true tale behind the success of Ali Truwit, 24-year-old ex-Yale competitive swimmer, and silver medallist in the La Défense Arena in the S10 400m freestyle on Thursday night, who in 2023 fought off a shark in the waters of Turks and Caicos in the Atlantic Ocean, and saved her own life by racing 70 metres to a boat, her left foot somewhere behind.

Truwit was always sporty, running, swimming, jumping, and had just done a marathon before heading out for a celebratory snorkeling trip with her friend Sophie one flawless May morning, days after graduating from Yale. In the aftermath of the attack, after Sophie had stemmed the blood by tying a makeshift tourniquet around her leg as the boat raced back to land, she was airlifted to hospital where the doctors fought first to save her life, and then to operate on her leg, eventually amputating it just below the knee.

What followed was rough – the mental battle to cope with the loss of a limb and a life imagined, and both real and phantom physical pain which seared through her body, especially at night. Water became a phobia. But, incredibly, just four months after the attack, she contacted her old swimming coach James Barone and asked him if he’d help her again. By late October she had swum in her first para swim competition, where meeting other athletes was a turning point. Less than a year after that, after four minutes and 31 seconds in the water, second behind Canada’s Aurelie Rivard, there is a silver medal round her neck.

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It’s still 0-0 in Brazil v Argentina in the blind football semi-final. A reminder that Brazil have never failed to win gold in this one…

Want a selection of some of the best images from today’s action? Then look no further than our lovingly curated gallery:

The men’s F13 javelin final has started and the reigning champion, Britain’s Dan Pembroke, nearly breaks his own Paralympic record with a first throw of 69.52m.

A wee bit of history in the blind football as Brazil take on Argentina in the semi-final. It’s 0-0 at the moment, but the Argentinians face a tough task: Brazil have won the gold in every Paralympics in which the event has been played. The winners will play hosts France in the final.

Hope for fortysomethings department. Brent Lakatos, at the age of 44, has won gold in the in the T53 800m. It’s the second Paralympic gold of the Canadian’s career after his 100m victory in 2016.

Marcel Hug is one of the most dominant athletes in the world: as well as winning pretty much every major marathon he enters he is also an ace in the Paralympics: he swept the T54 marathon, 5000m, 1500m and 800m in Tokyo. But he has to settle for bronze in the 800m tonight, finishing behind China’s Dai Yunqiang and Jin Hua, who won silver and gold respectively. Then again, it’s not like Hug hasn’t encountered disappointment before. GB’s Nathan Maguire finished fourth.

Paul MacInnes

When the decisive spike smashed off the Egyptian defence to seal Iranian victory in their sitting volleyball semi-final it was fitting it should be delivered by Morteza Mehrzad; their not-so secret weapon, he is also the world’s second-tallest man.

Mehrzad, 36, is 8ft 1in tall. He was born with gigantism and also uses a wheelchair after a bike accident as a teenager caused an injury that stopped his right leg from growing. When the ball is served in his sport he must push his head down to keep it under the cord of the net. When he arrived at the Paralympic village in Paris he was forced to sleep on the floor because there was not a bed big enough for him. He is shy, disliking the attention his condition brings, and when he plays on the court he rarely smiles. You could be forgiven for feeling sorry for him.

And yet, when his coach Hadi Rezaei talks about Mehrzad, he says that working with him has been “one of the most important things I have done during my whole life”. And it is Mehrzad who will bring the attention of the Iranian nation, and of a global audience too, to this sport and the final against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday. While he may not smile much, there is no doubting the passion Mehrzad has for his sport; in the decisive fourth set of a 3-1 victory, he dominated play and celebrated each point he scored with two pumping fists.

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The Texan has been utterly dominant in the discus since he first came on the Paralympic scene in 2008. His winning throw of 61.14m was well ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s Akeem Stewart’s 59.66m. USA’s David Blair won bronze with 57.76m.

Campbell now has five Paralympics golds: he won in the P44 pentathlon and F44 discus in 2008. He added discus golds in 2012, 2020 and 2024. He comes from a family with sporting pedigree: his brother Caleb played in the NFL. Jeremy was also quarterback of his high school team, an early clue that he could throw a bit.

It’s US, Turkey and Ukraine after the second leg, the breaststroke. China are back into silver after the third and a storming final leg from the Chinese breaks the world record and claims gold. It’s the US in second with Ukraine in third.

The final event in the pool tonight is the mixed 4x50m medley relay. China, the world record holders, are comfortable favourites for this one and the US, Italy and Ukraine are expected to battle for silver. But strange things can happen in relays, we shall see…

Splash and dash time and the Briton wins her second gold of the game, and the third of her career, as she powers through the field – she was struggling early in the race – to take the title comfortbaly ahead of Brazil’s Cecília Kethlen Jerônimo de Araújo. That’s Tai’s fourth medal of the Games: not a bad few days’ work.

The US will play for gold in women’s sitting volleyball after seeing off the challenge of Brazil. The Americans will face the winners of the Canada-China semi-final, which will take place shortly.

It was a comfortable win for the Briton. She led after 35m and was barely threatened after that. It’s the 24-year-old’s first Paralympic gold after winning silvers in the same event at Rio and Tokyo. The American pair of Olivia Chambers and Colleen Young won silver and bronze respectively.

“It’s going to make me cry. It’s something we’ve worked really hard for. Two silvers in the first two Paralympics and now a gold, it means the world,” she tells Channel 4 after the final.

“This crowd has been amazing, they’ve really spurred me on. I couldn’t hear them but I know they were cheering and I know that my family is somewhere here and to have them with me is really special.”

Lea Bayekula cruises to victory in the women’s T53 400m. The world record holder’s gold never looked in doubt as she claimed victory ahead of Switzerland’s Manuela Schaer and USA’s Tatyana McFadden. With her bronze, she takes her Paralympic medal tally to 21, a record for any US track and field athlete.

With that, it’s time to hand the baton over to Tom Lutz. Over to you Tom …

The most uplifting of stories in the pool, where Germany’s Elena Krawzow has won gold in the SB12 100m breaststroke in a world record of 1min 12.54sec. Krawzow also claimed gold in Tokyo but months later was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour and was given only a 10% chance of living beyond a year. Now she’s a Paralympic champion once more.

Back to the Stade de France, where Sammi Kinghorn, after her stunning 100m gold yesterday, is aiming for a fourth medal in Paris, this time in the T53 400m. She’s up against the USA’s Chelsea Stein and Australia’s Angela Ballard. A smooth start from Kinghorn, but Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland is comfortably going to take this for her fourth gold of the Games, with Kinghorn getting silver and China’s Zhou Hongzhuan bronze. Kinghorn is beaming; it’s a third silver to add to her gold.

Hewett will face Japan’s Tokito Oda in the men’s wheelchair tennis final. Oda, the 18-year-old star who’s already won four grand slam singles titles, has defeated Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez 6-2, 7-5.

They’re on to the final round in the men’s up to 65kg powerlifting final. GB’s Mark Swan is in the silver medal position, having lifted 208kg in the second round, and he’ll attempt 211kg on his last attempt. That won’t be enough to topple the leader, China’s Yi Zou, who lifted 213kg in the second round.

A huge ovation and frantic flag waving follows Adolphe’s introduction to the crowd. This T11 category is for athletes with little or no vision. Adolphe is a talented man; he’s a hip hop artist as well as an athlete and was also signed up by Louis Vuitton for a Games ad campaign along with Leon Marchand. But anyway, to the action. They’re off .. and there’s barely anything between them until the finish line … my, that was close. Greece’s Athanasios Ghavelas just takes gold in a season’s best of 11.02sec. Adolphe is three hundredths of a second back and wins silver, with China’s Di Dongdong taking bronze.

At the other end of the age scale from Winnifrith … discus thrower Dan Greaves will be going for his seventh medal at his seventh Games in the F64 event, which is just getting under way at the Stade de France in the evening session of the athletics. His GB teammate Harrison Walsh could also challenge for a medal. We’ve also got French sprinter Timothee Adolphe coming up very shortly in the T11 100m final, along with GB’s Sammi Kinghorn, who’ll be aiming to add to the three medals she’s already won in Paris. She goes in the T53 400m.

Hewett isn’t messing around in his men’s tennis semi-final. He’s dominated Spain’s Martin de la Puente, who appears to be struggling with injury, and is a game away from victory, serving for the match at 6-2, 5-0. At 15-all, Channel 4 decides to switch to the swimming … so I have no idea how Hewett finishes the job, but finish the job he swiftly does, with a 6-2, 6-0 rout. It means the Brit is guaranteed at least a silver medal. But it’s not the silver he wants, of course. He wants that elusive gold.

GB’s Mark Swan gets two white lights for 203kg on his first attempt, which propels him into the gold medal position in the men’s up to 65kg final. China’s Yi Zou, the world record holder, is the only competitor yet to lift.

The finals keep on coming, with the men’s SM9 200m individual medley. La Defense Arena is almost making as much noise as it did for Leon Marchand during the Olympics, with home hopes Hector Denayer and Ugo Didier both racing for France … the crowd are screaming every time the swimmers raise their heads on the breaststroke leg, but the duo can’t keep up with Australia’s Timothy Hodge, who surges in front to take gold in 2min 13.31sec, 2.67 seconds ahead of Didier in second and 4.03 seconds ahead of Denayer in third. Didier and Denayer are high-fiving each other after their French two-three. And for the second successive race in the pool we’ve got a new Paralympic record.

Back at the pool it’s the women’s SB11 100m breaststroke final. GB’s Scarlett Humphrey is seventh at the turn, after a quick start from China’s Ma Jia … but it’s the neutral athlete Daria Lukianenko who grabs gold with a Paralympic record of 1min 18.31sec after a superb second 50m. Ma is second and Karolina Pelendritou of Cyprus third, with Humphrey sixth.

After that historic moment for Japan at Roland Garros earlier, Alfie Hewett is under way in his men’s tennis semi-final. The Brit, 30 times a grand slam champion but yet to win Paralympic gold, is looking to complete his set of trophies in Paris, just as Novak Djokovic did last month at the Olympics. He’s taking on Spain’s Martin de la Puente and has won the first set comfortably, 6-2.

Up next in the powerlifting it’s GB’s European champion Mark Swan, who’s aiming for a podium finish in the men’s up to 65kg final. Growing up in a family of 12, the only place Swan could practice when he was younger was in his dad’s shed. A grander stage awaits him today at La Chapelle Arena.

Iona Winnifrith collects her silver from the SB7 100m breaststroke. She’s emulated her idol Ellie Simmonds by winning a Paralympic medal at just 13 years old, but looks remarkably composed on the podium. And because the gold medal winner Mariia Pavlova is from Russia, we get to hear the Paralympic anthem instead of the Russian one.

Tanya Aldred

Table tennis is the game of the youth club and the hostel, the campsite and the school gym, the park and the prison. It is also played by elite athletes with rubber wrists and quicksilver reflexes, like 14-year-old British schoolgirl Bly Twomey. (Though, it turns out, elite athletes or not, they still have to crawl under the table to pick up errant balls.)

Twomey, the fourth seed, already had a bronze medal, with Fliss Pickard in the WD14 doubles last Thursday, when she walked out for her WS7 singles semi-final against the seventh seed, Turkey’s Kübra Korkut on Thursday.

A curtain of light brown hair hanging round her face, Twomey charged into an early two-set lead, nimble and dynamic. But Korkut found her mojo and took the next three sets on the trot in a 21-minute burst to win 9-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5.

Twomey would have to settle for another bronze. “It’s an amazing experience,” she said. “It gives me a lot of hope to know I’m the same level as them.”

There was a huge contingent from the Brighton Table Tennis club to support their home players, Twomey and Will Bayley – formerly of Strictly Come Dancing and a silver medallist at Tokyo – who plays in the MS7 semi-finals on Friday. “We love you Bly, we do,” they chanted, bringing a touch of the football stadium to the South Paris Arena.

The director of the club, Tim Holtam, was watching with 35 members and another 100 were due to arrive on Thursday afternoon, many of them children in foster care and children who have never left the country before, able to come because of funding. “It’s an amazing community,” he said. “And we’re trying to put a silver lining on it. We didn’t want her to win because we want to extend the party to LA in four years.”

Twomey first went to the club at Easter 2021, to a multi-sport camp run thanks to the Holiday Activities and Food programme inspired by Marcus Rashford. “She picked up a bat and it was perfect timing as Will was at the club full time after Tokyo. He has guided her and showed her how to play,” said Holtam.

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Look what this means to Ukraine’s Nataliya Nikolaychyk. It’s remarkable what Nikolaychyk and her teammates are achieving in Paris given that budgets were slashed when the war started in 2022. Ukraine have a proud Paralympic history, and finished fifth in the medal table in Tokyo, and despite the drop in funding they’re seventh in the standings here. Nikolaychyk’s gold is the 15th the team have won in Paris, with 57 medals won overall.

But here comes Rivard, who pulls away from Truwit before the final turn. Truwit is giving chase … but there’s too much for the American to do. Rivard makes is a hat-trick of S10 400m freestyle titles, having won gold in Rio and Tokyo too, with a time of 4min 29.20sec. Truwit has to settle for silver and an American record, while Italy’s Bianka Pap wins bronze. Rogers finishes fifth in a time of 4:41.50.

Back at the swimming, it’s the women’s 400m S10 freestyle final. The American Ali Truwit is expected to be a big challenger, just over a year after she lost her leg below the knee in a shark attack in the Caribbean, and GB’s Faye Rogers is racing in this one too. Truwit leads at the halfway mark, from Canada’s Aurelie Rivard, with Rogers fourth …

The great Egyptian Rehab Ahmed has won the women’s up to 55kg powerlifting final with a lift of 121kg. It means the world champion is now the Paralympic champion. GB’s Charlotte McGuinness, who was distraught after judged disqualified her first attempt because of the position of her body, finishes fourth with a lift of 105kg.

That was huge from Winnifrith. It’s easy to draw comparisons with Ellie Simmonds, who was also 13 when she won her first Paralympic medals at Beijing 2008. “It’s really cool,” Winnifrith says in a nonchalant teenagery way. “Of course I really wanted gold but I’m super proud.”

Unfortunately there’s no time to reflect on GB’s victory, because at La Defense Arena a stream of swimming finals – 13 no less – is getting under way with the 13-year-old Iona Winnifrith, the youngest member of the GB team, racing in the SB7 100m breaststroke. The teenager has a strong chance of a medal … but is in third in the early stages … Mariia Pavlova leads at the turn and takes the win by breaking her own world record with a time of 1min 26.09sec … with Winnifrith sealing silver in a lifetime best of 1:29.69!

After the tightest of first halves, which GB edged 28-24, they’ve dominated the second half to complete a 71-43 victory over Germany. Up next on Saturday: the USA or Canada, who face off later. It’s GB’s first chance to go for gold since Atlanta 1996, having won bronze at the past two Games.

Four minutes to go, and GB are 65-35 ahead, as Warburton departs with 35 points to his name.

Germany’s Thomas Boehme stops a run of 14 consecutive points for Britain, after the Germans had missed nine successive shots, but GB will take a commanding 48-32 lead into the final 10 minutes … which is soon 61-35. After a slow start to this match, Britain are surely now set for the final, where they’ll face either the USA or Canada on Saturday.

Speaking of powerlifting, the latest session is getting under way at La Chapelle Arena, with two medal hopefuls for ParalympicsGB. Charlotte McGuinness competes in the women’s up to 55kg final, and then it’s Mark Swan in the men’s up to 65kg final. GB have already claimed a medal there today, with Olivia Broome winning bronze in the women’s up to 50kg final earlier.

From powerlifting to judo and the Paris rain – the best images of the day so far …

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Warburton adds another two points to his total for 42-26. Germany have been overwhelmed in this third quarter, scoring only two points, with three minutes left on the clock. GB, remember, are trying to reach their first gold medal match in 28 years.