Will Martin was one of four Australians to win gold on day nine. Photo: Paralympics - website
More rain in Tokyo didn’t stop more records falling, as medals flew out alongside memorable moments at the Tokyo Paralympics. Australia added more track and field, and swimming medals to its tally to cap off another golden day in Tokyo.
Medal Tally
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | China | 77 | 46 | 44 | 167 |
| 2 | Great Britain | 34 | 27 | 35 | 96 |
| 3 | RPC | 32 | 23 | 42 | 97 |
| 4 | USA | 27 | 31 | 22 | 80 |
| 5 | Ukraine | 20 | 39 | 25 | 84 |
| 8 | Australia | 17 | 23 | 26 | 66 |
A record-breaking day of track and field
From start to finish, day nine of the 2020 Paralympics was where track and field records were relentlessly broken.
It was a dual Algerian effort to start the record-breaking, with Safia Djelal blitzing through her competitors in the women’s shot put F57 final to claim gold and a world record of 11.29 metres.
Fellow compatriot Skander Djamil Athmani followed suit when he claimed gold in the men’s 400m T37 final with a world-beating time of 46.70 – a full second ahead of the field.
With the morning session lit up by such incredible efforts, China’s Wen Xiaoyan continued the historic day with a World Record shattering 13.00 time to win the women’s 100M T37 final.
When Greece’s Athanasios Ghavelas hit the finish line first in the men’s 100M T11 final with another world record time of 10.82, a grand morning of Paralympic athletics was officially confirmed.
If the rain-interrupted night was meant to douse this fire of record rewriting, Australian T63 long jumper Vanessa Low didn’t read the script.
The best was left until the night session, with Low breaking the world record on four consecutive jumps, eventually settling with the gold medal and the record with a distance of 5.28 metres. The 31-year-old was incredible, blowing away the field to claim a dominant gold medal.
More Aussie gold and records in the pool
If the day of athletics was remarkable enough, then it was swiftly followed up by the swimming action.
With more medals up for grabs, Australian superstar William Martin duly saluted for his third gold medal of the meet, claiming gold in emphatic fashion in the men’s 100M S9 butterfly. Not only did he blitz home after the turn, but he also finished strongly enough to smash the world record by nearly a full second.
New Zealand favourite Sophie Pascoe hit the halfway mark of the women’s 100M butterfly S9 final in first position, looking as ominous as ever. But a remarkable back 50M by Zsofia Konkoly surpassed the Kiwi, as Pascoe dropped to fifth while Konkoly won gold with a Paralympic record swim.
Star Maksym Krypak never looked troubled in the men’s S10 100M backstroke, smoothly swimming his way to first place and a scintillating world record.
But more was to come for Australia in the pool – both B.J. Hance and Rachael Watson won gold for the Aussies in the pool in the men’s 100M backstroke S14 and the women’s 50M freestyle S4 respectively.
To finish off the amazing night of action, the US team took home gold in the women’s 4x100M medley relay 34 points, with Australia snatching bronze behind the Russian Paralympic Committee.
Judgement day in the cycling
With five individual road cycling medal races playing out, it was an action-packed day for the cyclists.
The British pair of Sarah Storey and Crystal Lane-Wright were too good for the big field in the women’s C4-5 road race, claiming gold and silver respectively ahead of French rider Marie Patouillet.
It was remarkably similar in the men’s C1-3 road race, with the British double of Benjamin Watson and Finlay Graham claiming the top of the podium in gold and silver, while the French Alexandre Leaute finished in third.
China’s Chen Jianxin was too good in the men’s T1-2 road race, as Jana Majunke and Angelika Dreock-Kaser finished first and second for Germany in the women’s T1-2 road race.
In the final event of the day, Italy claimed gold in the all-important mixed H1-5 team relay, finishing half a minute ahead of France and the US to win comprehensively.
Table Tennis medal galore
Plenty of gold was on offer in the team’s table tennis finals, with China blitzing to a straight-sets win over Ukraine in the Men’s Team Class 8 gold medal match. The Chinese also claimed the Women’s Team Classes 6-8 gold, the Men’s Team Classes 4-5 gold and the Women’s Classes 1-3 Team gold.
But the tensest final came in the Men’s Team Class 3 gold medal match, with the Chinese team rallying to win a remarkable game 2-1 over Germany.
It’s down to two in the women’s wheelchair basketball
Always a popular Paralympic event, the Women’s Wheelchair Basketball is reaching its climax, as the two semi-finals provided plenty of thrilling action.
In the first bout, the Netherlands won by 10 over Germany to book their spot in the gold medal match, while China was too strong for the vaunted US side, claiming a 41-36 victory that means America must now fight for a bronze medal to take home from Tokyo.
More semi-finals galore
It was moving day for many big events, as the men’s football 5-a-side competition held its semi-finals to get one step closer towards determining a gold medal winner.
China and Argentina faced off in the first semi, with the Argentinians proving comfortably too good for their opponents with a convincing 2-0 win.
In the other contest, Brazil held off Morocco to win 1-0 and book a tantalising date with Argentina in the gold medal match.
More semis were to be played in the men’s and Women’s Goalball events, as China demolished the Americans 8-1 in the men’s bracket to meet Brazil in the final, as the latter proved too strong for Lithuania in their 9-5 win that gives them a shot at gold.
The form was reversed on the women’s side of the draw, as Brazil slumped to a 4-5 defeat to the US that consigns them to a bronze medal play-off, while the US will meet Turkey in the gold medal match after they accounted for host nation Japan 8-5.
Lastly, the men’s sitting volleyball semi-finals were played out on a busy day of cut-throat action, with the Russian Paralympic Committee winning three sets to one over Brazil in their decider. The RPC will play the Islamic Republic of Iran in the final after they smashed Bosnia Herzegovina in straight sets in their semi.
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