The third day of competition at the National Aquatics Centre saw 11 world records broken and six swimmers upped their game to defend Paralympic titles, while others settled for a lower place on the podium.
In the Men's 100m Freestyle S2, Dmitry Kokarev of Russia claimed his second gold medal in the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games in 2:18.04. Georgios Kapellakis of Greece got silver in 2:23.63 and Jim Anderson of Great Britain took bronze in 2:24.32.
In the Men's 100m Backstroke S6, gold medalist at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, Igor Plotnikov of Russia, repeated a good performance, winning in 1:14.45, while China took silver and bronze, with Yang Yuanrun in 1:16.35 and Tang Yuan in 1:17.05.
Mirjam de Koning-Peper of Netherlands won gold in the Women's 100m Backstroke S6 with a Paralympic record time of 1:28.34. Defending champion Nyree Lewis of Great Britain took silver in 1:29.35 and Jiang Fuyingof China claimed bronze in 1:30.53.
Andre Brasil of Brazil set a world and Paralympic record in the Men's 100m Freestyle S10 to win his second gold in the competition in 51.38. Fellow countryman Phelipe Rodrigues took silver in 54.22 and defending champion Benoit Huot of Canada earned bronze in 54.26.
An exciting race in the Women's 100m Freestyle S10 finished with the Ashley Owens of the United States of America taking the gold on the touch, with a world and Paralympic record of 1:01.57. Katarzyna Pawlik of Poland took silver in 1:01.59 and Anna Eames of the United States got bronze in 1:01.91.
Enhamed Enhamed of Spain made history in the Men's 100m Butterfly S11, breaking a 16-year Paralympic record set by the United States' John Morgan at the Barcelona 1992 Paralympic Games. Enhamed also improved by over two seconds his world record, to win the gold medal in 1:01.12. Oleksandr Mashchenko of Ukraine took silver in 1:04.08. Defending champion Viktor Smyrnov of Ukraine and Japan's Kawai Junichi of got bronze with identical times, 1:05.79.
Raman Makarau of Belarus showed why he deserved to win his third gold medal in a row in the Men's 100m Butterfly S12, breaking his world and Paralympic record time in 56.90.
In the Women's 100m Butterfly S12, defending champion Joanna Mendak of Poland bettered her Paralympic record to win gold in 1:03.34.
The Men's 200m Freestyle S3 had a tight finish with Dmytro Vynohradets of Ukraine setting a world and Paralympic record in winning the gold in 3:22.98. Li Hanhua of China got silver in 3:23.40 and Du Jianping of China took bronze in 3:27.82.
Richard Oribe of Spain had a comfortable win in the Men's 200m Freestyle S4 final and broke the world and Paralympic record in 2:55.81, improving his Paralympic record of 3:00.45 set in the heats. David Smetanine of France, who had won gold over Oribe in the Men's 100m Freestyle S4 on Sunday, took silver in 3:04.47.
Daniel Dias of Brazil won his third gold medal so far in the Games, reaching the top of the podium of the Men's 200m Freestyle S5 in a world and Paralympic record of 2:32.32. The defending champion Sebastian Rodriguez of Spain got the silver in 2:38.88.
Maria Teresa Peralesof Spain added a gold to her collection of one gold and one silver so far, in winning the Women's 200m Freestyle S5 in 2:47.47. Inbal Pezaro of Israel, bronze medalist in this event at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, won silver in 2:49.51. Ukraine's Olena Akopyan, silver in Athens 2004, took bronze in 2:52.51.
In the Men's 100m Breaststroke SB7, the defending champion Sascha Kindred of Great Britain confirmed his dominance to claim gold and a world and Paralympic record of 1:22.18. Kindred already had one gold in the competition, claimed in the Men's 200m Individual Medley SM6 on Sunday.
The defending champion Erin Popovich of the United States not only won a gold medal in the Women's 100m Breaststroke SB7 - her third so far in the competition - but also set a world and Paralympic record of 1:31.60. Huang Min of China won silver in 1:35.51. Jessica Long of the US team also had a chance to win a third gold, but wound up with in a time of 1:38.60.
Andriy Kalyna of Ukraine defended his Paralympic title in winning gold in the Men's 100m Breaststroke SB8 with a world and Paralympic record of 01:07.01.
The last clash of the day found Olesya Vladykina of Russia as the gold medalist of the Women's 100m Breaststroke SB8, with a world and Paralympic record of 1:20.58.
(BOCOG September 9, 2008)