Gregg Covers Sport

ParalympicsGB won another 10 medals, three of which were gold, on Day 8 of the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, as their medal tally grew to 84.

Swimmer Alice Tai got her second Gold, and fourth medal in total, of the games as she won the S8 50m freestyle final. The 25-year-old came into the event not expecting to win, and in fact had to be told by her competitors that she had won the title.

Elsewhere in the pool it was third time lucky for Becky Redfern, who finally got her hands on a Paralympic Gold medal, winning the 100m breaststroke final. Redfern had finished second in the same event at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

Stars of today and tomorrow

And at the age of just 13 years and 149 days, Britain’s youngest athlete in the French capital, Ioana Winnifrith, won a silver medal in the SB7 100m breaststroke final, something she described as “mad and pretty cool” when speaking to Channel 4 afterwards.

Winnifrith wasn’t the only young star to win a medal on Day 8 either. 14-year-old Bly Twomey took bronze in the WS7 table-tennis to pair with the bronze she won in the WD14 women’s doubles on Day 2.

Records fly

In the track and field, Daniel Pembroke decided just beating the world record in the men’s F13 javelin wasn’t quite good enough. So with his very next throw he absolutely smashed it on his way to defending his Paralympic title from Tokyo 2020.

The previous record had stood at 71.01m, and Pembroke had already beaten that, with his third throw measuring at 71.15m. Then, with his fourth throw, the 33-year-old posted a massive 74.49m, leaving no one with any doubts about who the champion was.

Meanwhile, sprinter Sammi Kinghorn won her third silver medal of the Games, finishing second for the third time behind rival Catherine Debrunner from Switzerland, this time in the women’s T53 400m final. Just 24 hours earlier, Kinghorn had beaten Debrunner to claim the women’s T53 100m gold medal.

There was also a bronze medal for Anna Nicholson in the women’s F35 shot put final, the medal that started ParalympicsGB’s haul on Day 8.

Power and precision

There was double delight in the Para-powerlifting, as Olivia Broome and Mark Swan took bronze and silver respectively in the women’s -50kg and men’s -65kg categories.

Last but certainly not least, ParalympicsGB took silver in the wheelchair men’s team fencing after losing to China in the final.

It is only China who are above ParalympicsGB in the medal total, albeit by some margin, as they boast an incredible 166 medals, including a staggering 74 gold’s.