Two more Scottish medals added to the ParalympicsGB total on day five of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympic Games.
Swimming
Scotland’s European silver medallist Conner Morrison got his Tokyo campaign off to a great start at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, finishing second in Heat 1 of the Men’s SB14 100m Breaststroke in a time of 1:08.01, 2.71 seconds behind Australia’s Jake Michel, who broke Scott Quin’s Paralympic record from Rio 2016 in 1:05.30. However, that record was broken again in Heat 2, with Japan’s Naohide Yamaguchi clocking 1:04.45. Scott Quin finished second in Heat 2 in a time of 1:06.20 to ensure that Scotland would have two swimmers progress to the final later in the day.
Both swimmers looked confident as they took to the block in the Men’s SB14 100m Breaststroke final. It was Scott who would be in the hunt for the medals, winning the bronze in a fantastic time of 1:05.91. The gold went to Yamaguchi, in another world record time of 1:03.77, with Michel taking the silver. Connor Morrison, competing in his fist Paralympic Games, recorded a time of 1:08.01 for a very creditable 8th place finish.
After his bronze medal winning swim, Scott said;
“I am gutted and not getting a personal best hurts me the most but at the end of the day, five years ago I came away with a silver and now I have a bronze.”
“It puts life into perspective and I am so humble to race here.”
The final Scottish swimmer in action today was Toni Shaw who was a member of ParalympicsGB’s Women’s 4×100 freestyle 34-point relay team. The quartet had initially finished the race in 4th place but were subsequently disqualified for an illegal changeover.
Athletics
Maria Lyle lined up for the final of the T35 Women’s 200m full of confidence following her bronze medal in the 100m on Friday. It was to be another bronze medal for Maria on this occasion in a season’s best time of 30.24. The gold went to China’s Xia Zhou in a world record shattering time of 27.17, with Australia’s Isis Holt taking the silver in 27.94.
Scotland had two wheelchair athletes taking to the track for their heats at the Olympic Stadium. First to compete was Sammi Kinghorne in the T53 Women’s 800m, who looked smooth as she set a time of 1:50.83 to finish in second place behind Madison de Rozario.
Next up was Mel Woods for her T54 Women’s 800m heat. Mel is making her Paralympic debut in Tokyo and pushed a personal best time of 1:52.05 to secure a fourth-place finish. Both athletes progressed to their respective finals later in the day.
It was heartache for Sammi in her T53 Women’s 800m final as she finished in 4th place with a time of 1:47.94, a mere 400th of second behind Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner. The gold medal went to Australia’s Madison de Rozario in a new Paralympic record time of 1:45.99 with Hongzhuan Zhou from China taking the gold. Sammi will be back in action on Wednesday for the T53 Women’s 100m.
Mel Woods is making her Paralympic debut in Tokyo and found herself in the T54 Women’s 800m final facing the World and Paralympic Champions. Mel did fantastically well in breaking her personal best and securing a 5th place finish in a time of 1:50.40. Mel will be back in action on Thursday for the T54 Women’s 400m
Wheelchair Tennis
Scotland’s Gordon Reid and partner Alfie Hewitt got their Wheelchair Tennis Men’s Doubles competition underway at the Ariake Tennis Park with a second round match against Thomas Flax and Nico Langmann from Austria. The ParalympicsGB pair got off to a flying start, taking the match 6-0, 6-0.
Boccia
Having defeated his brother in his opening match of the BC3 Individual competition, Scott McCowan was back in action for his next Pool E match against Argentina’s Stefania Ferrando. The pair were level after the second end but Scott, with dad Gary as his ramp assistant, piled on the pressure in the final two ends to win 6-1. Scott takes a 100% record into day three of the pool matches to face Spencer Cotie of Australia.
After his match Scott commented;
“It’s a good start so far – obviously I conceded a point in the second end but I kept the score down and ended up getting points down the other end, so it’s been a good start. I’ve just got to keep it going now.”
Jamie McCowan faced Spencer Cotie in his second BC3 Individual Pool E match. Following his defeat to Scott, Jamie and his Ramp Assistant mum Linda, were looking to bounce back against the Aussie. It was looking good for Jamie after two ends as he held a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately the tide was to turn in the second half of the game and Cotie won 5-2.
Scotland’s Stephen McGuire had also suffered a defeat in his opening match in Pool C of the BC4 Individual competition. Stephen faced a tricky tie against Shun Esaki from Japan next and it was destined to be a close match. Stephen raced into a 3-0 lead after two ends before Esaki rallied to put the Scot under considerable pressure. However, he couldn’t do enough to turn the match and Stephen eventually won 3-2. Next up for Stephen is Columbia’s Euclides Grisales at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.
Speaking after his match, Stephen said;
“The pressure was on for me to get back to winning ways after losing yesterday’s match. I was also playing the home favourite which is always tough. It was a very difficult match, a very close match. Hopefully a win tomorrow by three or four points would take me through – that’s the target.”
“But it’s a privilege to be here back doing what we love,” added Stephen. “It’s been 20 months since I’ve competed so it’s fantastic to see so many athletes in a great arena. I’m loving it!”
After five days of competition, Scotland’s medal tally at the Tokyo Games has now risen to eleven with one gold, three silver and seven bronze.
Photo – courtesy of imagecomms
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