Australian Paralympic athletes Alexa Leary (swimming) and Qian Yang (table tennis) had stirring gold medal victories on Day 7. Leary broke her own world record, while Yang defeated a legend of the game and add to her remarkable success.

For full coverage, visit: www.paralympic.org.au/

Swimming

Just hours after Alexa Leary broke her own world record in the heats of the women’s 100m freestyle S9 at La Défense Arena she broke it again, this time earning Australia’s third swimming gold medal at Paris 2024. 

Leary clocked 59.53s, 0.07s faster than her heat time.  

“I really just wanted to break the world record – and I did. I did it this morning but tonight was my show,” Leary said.  

Among the other highlights was a bronze to Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson in the men’s 50m breaststroke SB2 and a bronze to Ricky Betar in the men’s 200m individual medley SM14 in an Oceania record time.  

Table Tennis

Qian Yang successfully defended her Paralympic women’s singles crown with a commanding 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 12-10) win over Poland’s legendary player Natalia Partyka. 

Yang skipped out to a two-game lead and was always in control of the match, overcoming a small fightback in the second and third, where she entertained the crowd by turning defence into attack. 

Yang said through an interpreter that her “concentration” got her through, and she was “very happy”. 

Road Cycling 

Only 48 hours after winning a gold medal in triathlon, Lauren Parker became the first Australian Paralympic athlete in 44 years to snag a medal in two disciplines at the same Games. 

Parker’s silver medal in the women’s H1-3 individual time trial headlined a bold opening day of road cycling for Australia with three silvers and two bronze medals safe in their keeping after the action at the velodrome. 

“It feels so good to walk away with another medal,” Parker said.

“I put it all out there on the racecourse. I’m proud of what I’ve done today.” 

Wheelchair Basketball 

The Australian Rollers backed up from their quarter finals loss to Great Britain the previous night to score a faith-restoring 78-74 win over Spain in the first of their classification qualifying matches.

Bill Latham scored 33 points in the win which leading player Tom O’Neill-Thorne said showed a lot of character.

“I think in the past we would have rolled over and lost by 20,” he said. “But we really wanted to show that we’ve got that Aussie never-say-die attitude and we came through and got the win.” 

Boccia

The Paris Paralympics has come to an end for Daniel Michel and Jamieson Leeson after going down to defending Paralympic champions, Republic of Korea, 4-2 in the quarter finals of the mixed pairs BC3. 

It was not the fairytale ending the duo were chasing, after making history two days earlier by claiming silver medals in the individual BC3 competition, marking Australia’s best result in Paralympic boccia.  

“To take it all the way down to the last ball, you wouldn't want the quarter-final to end any other way,” Michel said. 

“But we'll take the two silver medals… it has been an amazing couple of weeks for us over here.” 

Athletics

Mali Lovell, 200m bronze medallist, came fifth in the 100m T36 Final, Rosemary Little came sixth in the shot put F32 Final and Luke Bailey had his first Paralympic final experience, in the 100m (T54) wheelchair class.

“It’s always been a dream and I started to get nervous as we waited in the call room,” Bailey said.

“It’s all worth it to get out in front of this big crowd and hear the cheering engulf you as you come up the straight.” 

Equestrian

Blow-up boxing kangaroos, excited spectators and fellow team members were out in force to support Australian duo Dianne Barnes and Lisa Martin and their respective horses Sorena and Villagio at Chateau de Versailles.

Martin and Villagio qualified for the individual freestyle on Saturday.

“He [Villagio] is a little bit of an unknown sort, and I didn’t know how he was going to handle it,” Martin said.

“I knew he had the quality; I just didn’t know what he was going to do in there. So, to get 70% at a Paralympic Games is fantastic and to have such a young horse do that, is great,” 

Archery

Taymon Kenton-Smith earned a spot in the bronze medal match marking Australia’s best performance since Rio in 2016. 

Renowned for engaging with fans in a way few athletes can, Kenton-Smith’s presence was electrifying, turning heads and winning hearts. His blinding green and gold hair, his signature giant Wedgetail eagle feather hat and his unique style and flair, made him the undisputed star of the day. 

“I came here to win and, you know, I won the crowd, so that’s definitely something I will never forget,” Kenton-Smith said.