Beijing Paralympic Day 6 Review: Swimmers add to their medal collections

Updated：2008-09-12 21:56:21

(BEIJING, September 12) -- On the sixth day of competition, 11 world records have been reset and two Paralympic records were established at the National Aquatics Centre. Sam Hynd of Great Britain knocked over five 5 seconds off a previous world record and Natalie Du Toit of South Africa continued her flawless performance, taking her fourth gold in the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Swimming competition.


Photo: Sam Hynd of Great Britain.
Sam Hynd of Great Britain smashed the world record to pieces in the first heat of the morning in the Men's 400m Freestyle - S8 and then bettered the time even further in the evening with 4:26.25 and the gold medal. Peter Leek of Australia picked up his sixth medal of the Games with the silver and China's Wang Jiachao took the bronze.

Jessica Long of the United States set a new world record in the Women's 400m Freestyle - S8 heat with 4:47.45. In the final she took her fourth gold medal in what was the same group on the podium as the Women's 100m Freestyle - S8 on Monday, September 8, when Heather Frederiksen of Great Britain took the silver and Jacqueline Freney of Australia the bronze.

In the Men's 100m Freestyle - S11, Enhamed Enhamed of Spain reshaped the Paralympic record, which had stood since the Barcelona 1992 Paralympics, with a new time of 57.64. Yang Bozun of China takes his third silver of the week and Grzegorz Polkowski of Poland, the bronze.

The Women's 100m Freestyle - S11 saw Xie Qing of China break the world record with a time of 1:08.96. Cecilia Camellini of Italy claimed silver and Daniela Schulte of Germany, bronze.

Photo: Jessica Long of USA.
It was a one-two for Ukraine in the Men's 100m Freestyle - S12 with Maksym Veraksa setting a new world record, swimming 51.93 seconds. Sergii Klippert, took silver in 53.81s.

Oxana Savchenko of Russia was the first woman ever to swim under the one minute mark in the Women's 100m Freestyle - S12 with a world record time of 59.47s. Silver also went to Russian Anna Efimenko, 1:01.24 and Joanna Mendak of Poland, 1:01.57, collected the bronze to add to her gold and silver from this week.

Ricardo Ten of Spain broke his own world record and secured his first gold medal of the Games in the Men's 100m Breaststroke - SB4. Danial Dias of Brazil is never far from the podium and Friday was no exception as Dias collected his seventh medal of the week. Moises Fuentes took the bronze for Colombia.

Bela Hlavackova of Czech Republic won the gold medal in the Women's 100m Breaststroke - SB4 in a time of 1:55.55. Silver went to Inbal Pezaro of Israel and Maria Teresa Perales of Spain took bronze.

In the Men's 100m Breaststroke - SB5 Pedro Rangel of Mexico finished in first place, but was disqualified from the race. Thomas Grimm of Germany collected the gold in the original medal ceremony, but an appeal by Rangel was accepted and finally Rangel was reinstated and announced the winner, giving Grimm the silver and Tadhg Slattery of South Africa the bronze.

Kirsten Bruhn of Germany broke her own world record in a time well ahead of the rest with 1:36.30 in the Women's 100m Breaststroke - SB5 morning heat. In the final, Bruhn produced a similar performance winning the gold in 1:36.92. Silver went to Rachel Lardiere of France and the bronze, Gitta Raczko of Hungary.

Alexey Fomenkov of Russia made sure of his medal in the Men's 100m Breaststroke - SB6 after narrowly missing out on Wednesday. It was gold and a Paralympic record for Fomenkov with Great Britain's Gareth Duke and Matt Whorwood taking the other two podium places with silver and bronze respectively.

Elizabeth Johnson of Great Britain ended her first event of the Games, Women's 100m Breaststroke - SB6, in style collecting the gold in 1:41.87. Sarah Bowen of Australia leaves with the silver and her Paralympic record, which she set at Athens 2004, untouched.

Oleksii Fedyna of Ukraine broke the world record in a time of 2:13.84 in the Men's 200m IM -SM13. Charalampos Taiganidis of Greece picks up another silver to add to his gold, silver and bronze from this week.

In the Women's 200m IM - SM13, it was three for the Canadians. First with Chelsey Gotell of Canada who took the world record away from her compatriot Kirby Cote with a time of 2:28.15. Cote took the silver and Valerie Grand Maison the bronze.

Jesus Collado of Spain set a new world record in the Men's 400m Freestyle - S9 with 4:17.02. Matthew Cowdrey of Australia adds another silver to his impressive collection of two golds and two silvers.

Natalie Du Toit of South Africa sliced a fraction off her world record in the Women's 400m Freestyle - S9, swimming 4:23.81 and continues her gold sweep, this being her fourth. Silver went to Stephanie Dixon of Canada and the bronze medalist was Ellie Cole of Australia.
News Credit: http://en.paralympic.beijing2008.cn