Paris 2024 Paralympics: GB win 12 golds on record-breaking super Sunday (2024)

Published

1 September 2024

Great Britain celebrated their most successful day at a Paralympic Games this century with 12 gold medals on a record-breaking super Sunday at Paris 2024.

Hannah co*ckroft won her fourth successive women's T34 100m title to clinch GB's first Para-athletics gold, ahead of team-mate Kare Adenegan, before Sabrina Fortune produced a world record to win the women's F20 shot put title at the Stade de France.

Four golds were won in the pool, where Maisie Summers-Newton took the women's SB6 100m breaststroke title, Brock Whiston claimed women's SM8 200m individual medley gold as Alice Tai took bronze, Grace Harvey triumphed in the women's SB5 100m breaststroke, and Britain's quartet won mixed S14 4x100m relay gold.

The final day of Para-track cycling action in the velodrome brought three GB golds, with James Ball and pilot Steffan Lloyd beating team-mates Neil Fachie and Matt Rotherham to the men's B 1,000m time trial title.

Sophie Unwin and pilot Jenny Holl triumphed in the women's B 3,000m individual pursuit, with bronze going to Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall, while there was open C1-5 750m team sprint success for Jody Cundy, Jaco van Gass and Kadeena Cox.

The day began with three rowing golds, won by Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson in the mixed double sculls, Ben Pritchard in the men's single sculls and the mixed coxed four.

Among GB's 18 medals, there was also silver for Sammi Kinghorn in the Para-athletics women's T53 800m, and rowers Annie Caddick and Sam Murray in the mixed PR3 double sculls silver.

ParalympicsGB's previous record for gold medals won on a single day at a Games was nine - achieved at both Rio 2016 and Beijing 2008.

The outstanding haul of 12 on day four took the team to 23 golds in Paris, with their overall medal total at 43 - second only to China (67 medals including 30 golds), who have topped the table at the past five Games.

co*ckroft is now an eight-time Paralympic champion after storming to her fourth consecutive T34 100m title, ahead of team-mate Adenegan, in 16.80 seconds.

The 32-year-old co*ckroft, dominant in the event since her international debut in 2011, is three behind Tanni Grey-Thompson's record for most Para-athletics golds at the Games by a GB competitor. She can narrow that gap by retaining her T34 800m title on Saturday.

"The support was amazing. I can't wipe the smile from my face. For 12 years, that's what we've worked for. I knew Paris could do it, and I'm so glad they did," said co*ckroft.

"I'm making my life well hard doing this. You know you're the one people are watching but that's what keeps you going, you don't want to let people down and I know I have more in me."

Shot putter Fortune produced a world record 15.12m with her first attempt of the final to seal her maiden Games title in style, having won bronze in Rio but placed fifth in Tokyo three years ago.

“I still can’t believe it, especially on the first throw. I just wanted to jump up and down and celebrate right then - and then I remembered I [still] had five more throws after that," Fortune said.

After a two-day wait, Kinghorn earned GB's first athletics medal as the only athlete able to follow world record holder Catherine Debrunner's explosive start - the Swiss setting a Paralympic record in one minute 41.04 seconds.

Two-time champion Jonny Peaco*ck, a medallist at his three previous Games, qualified safely for Monday's T64 100m final (18:46 BST).

It was yet another superb night in the pool for ParalympicsGB, who lead the Para-swimming medal table after four days of action with an unmatched 11 golds among their 16 medals.

Summers-Newton led from start to finish to capture her second title in Paris in the SB6 100m breaststroke, before Whiston produced a stunning comeback to overturn a halfway deficit of more than 10 seconds to team-mate Tai in the SM8 200m individual medley and edge Viktoriia Ishchiulova in the closing stages.

That success was a long time coming for Whiston, unable to compete at the Tokyo Games or the 2022 Commonwealth Games because of issues around eligibility and category.

"I knew I had something to prove to myself and I was out there to show myself what I can do. I was like, 'nothing's stopping me'. I was ready for it tonight," Whiston said.

Harvey upgraded her silver from Tokyo 2020 in the SB5 100m breaststroke as GB's medal rush continued, with a fourth gold added by the S14 mixed 4x100m freestyle quartet of teenagers William Ellard, Rhys Darbey, Poppy Maskill and Olivia Newman-Baronius in the final event of the day.

Darbey, 17, said: "I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do in Los Angeles [in 2028]; everyone in this team is under 20. Hopefully that world record can be ours in LA."

Britain's Para-cyclists also shone on the closing day of track events at the velodrome, topping the final medal table after adding three golds, a silver and bronze on Sunday.

Ball and pilot Lloyd beat team-mates Fachie and Rotherham to men's B 1,000m time trial gold to reverse the result of the Tokyo 2020 final, before Unwin and Holl judged their 3,000m effort perfectly to overhaul Ireland's Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal.

Cox, having suffered heartbreak when her bid for women's C4-5 5,000m gold was ended by an early fall on Thursday, then returned to the track to help GB to gold in the open C1-5 5,000m alongside Van Gass and nine-time gold medallist Cundy.

Cox blasted out of the blocks to establish a lead for the team, who went on to beat Spain by 1.826 seconds.

"After the highs and lows of this week it's nice to win a Paralympic title. I'm super happy to come out here and do what I did for the boys," said Cox, 33.

"It took a lot to get me back out here. Mentally I had to climb over a massive hurdle to be on the start line."

ParalympicsGB had a near-perfect morning with three golds and a silver from five Para-rowing races at the Vaires-sur-Marne stadium.

Rowles, 26, claimed a historic win in the PR2 mixed double sculls with Stevenson, becoming the first British rower to win three Paralympic golds. It came in a thrilling final in which the British pair recovered from more than a boat length behind China's Liu Shuang and Jiang Jijian to take gold on the line.

After setting a Paralympic record in qualifying, Pritchard earned gold in the PR1 single sculls, and Great Britain's PR3 mixed coxed four of Frankie Allen, Giedre Rakauskaite, Josh O'Brien and Ed Fuller, coxed by Erin Kennedy, retained their Tokyo title.

Kennedy, who received the all-clear from breast cancer last year, said: "Today is the end of a narrative chapter in my life that I didn't really want to start. It has been a bit of a mental three years and 680 days since I was diagnosed.

"Rowing has been the constant for me when things were changing and always provided the goal. I just pass a lot of the credit on to my team-mates. The belief in myself might have run out at some point but they never let it happen."

GB's Caddick and Murray took PR3 mixed double sculls silver, behind Australia’s Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager.

There are 61 gold medals to be won at the Paris 2024 Paralympics on Monday, with live text coverage available on the BBC Sport website and app.

Dan Bethell (men's SL3 singles - 12:00 BST) and Krysten Coombs (men's SH6 singles - 21:00) are in Para-badminton finals, bidding to win Great Britain's first Paralympic medals in the sport.

Stephen McGuire will attempt to win boccia gold in the men's individual BC4 final (16:00), while in Para-archery Nathan MacQueen and individual bronze medallist Jodie Grinham compete together in the mixed team compound open event.

All 11 triathlon medal events are scheduled to take place from 07:15, with Lauren Steadman and Claire Cashmore continuing their rivalry in the PTS5 event (11:35).

Ellie Challis, Britain’s youngest medallist at the Tokyo Games, will seek to upgrade the S3 50m backstroke silver she won aged 17 (17:05), and Louise Fiddes is in the SB14 100m breaststroke final (17:20).

Defending champions Great Britain lost their wheelchair rugby semi-final but will contest the bronze medal match against Australia (12:30).

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