Another nine world records were broken during the fourth day of competition at the National Aquatics Center, including the first Swimming relay of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. Valerie Grand Maison of Canada stood out among the day's action, taking away her third gold medal.
The very first heat of the day saw Kevin Paul of South Africa break the world record in the Men's 100m Breaststroke - SB9. Paul then went all out in the final to break the record and take the title again in a time of 1:08.58. The silver medal went to China's Lin Furong.
Sophie Pascoe of New Zealand took the gold medal in the Women's 100m Breaststroke - SB9 in a time of 1:22.58. Spain's Sarai Gascon came in second for the silver and Louise Watkin of Great Britain collected her second medal of the Games with bronze.
Charalampos Taiganidis of Greece now has a medal in each color after setting a new world record in the Men's 100m Freestyle - S13 in 53.37. Oleksii Fedyna of Ukraine took the silver in 54.11, failing to defend the Paralympic record he had set in the morning's heats. Danylo Chufarov of Ukraine adds a bronze to the silver he won on Monday.
Valerie Grand Maison of Canada stormed to her third gold medal of the Games, breaking her own world record along the way in the Women's 100m Freestyle - S13. Fellow Canadian Chelsey Gotell also picks up her third medal, this time silver, to add to her two bronzes. Team USA's Kelley Becherer claimed her second bronze.
Lantz Lamback of the United States had already broken the world record in the Men's 100m Backstroke - S7 in his heat in the morning. Lamback then did it again in the final with 1:12.09 to take the gold, adding to Monday's silver. John Fox of Great Britain, who held the world record previously, took the silver medal this time and Guillermo Marro of Argentina earned bronze.
In the Women's 100m Backstroke - S7, Katrina Porter of Australia set a new world record of 1:24.30. Kirsten Bruhn of Germany had gold in her sights, but couldn't reach Porter, finishing second and adding a silver medal to the bronze she won on Monday.
Konstantin Lisenkov of Russia broke his own world record in the final of the Men's 100m Backstroke - S8 with 1:06.33 to add a gold medal to Monday's silver. Peter Leek of Australia came away with the silver after his gold on Sunday.
In the Women's 100m Backstroke - S8, Heather Frederiksen of Great Britain claimed the world record for her own at 1:16.74, after previously sharing it with Keren Leibovitch of Israel who just missed out on a medal. Jessica Long of the United States finished in second and claimed yet another medal, her collection now including two golds, a silver and a bronze.
Maksym Veraksa of Ukraine swam his way to a new world record in the Men's 200m Individual Medley - SM12 and pocketed his second gold of the week. Ukraine also took Bronze in this event with Sergii Klippert and Alexander Nevolin-Svetov of Russia, the silver.
Although, few surprises emerged from the Women's 200m Individual Medley - SM12, with favorite Oxana Savchenko of Russia winning the gold, it was no easy task. Silver medalist Joanna Mendak of Poland won gold on Tuesday and Karolina Pelendritou of Cyprus, who took the bronze in this event, also has a gold medal from Monday's competition.
In Men's 50m Butterfly - S5 Roy Perkins of the US team took the Paralympic record away from He Junquan of China in the heat, but then went one better in the final and set a new world record with 35.95 seconds. Daniel Dias of Brazil continued his medal run, adding a silver medal to his incredible three golds. He Juquan also got his second medal of the Games, this time a bronze.
The first relay of the competition saw Great Britain's Men's 4x100m Freestyle - 34pts team produce a convincing win, timing 3:51.43, to take the gold and set a new world record for themselves. The Australian team came in for the silver medal at 3:53.59 and China captured the bronze.
(BOCOG September 10, 2008)