Freney’s seventh heaven

NSWIS swimmer Jacqueline Freney created history on day eight of the Paralympic Games by winning her seventh gold, while fellow NSWIS athlete Liesl Tesch won the first Paralympic gold of her illustrious career.

Freney’s triumph in the women’s S7 400m freestyle, her pet event, saw her become the most successful Australian at a single Paralympic Games, with the seventh gold of the Games moving her past Paralympic legend Siobhan Paton. Freney’s seventh gold came in a time of 4:59.02, a new world record.

There were more medals in the pool on day eight, with Maddison Elliott and Andrew Pasterfield each winning bronze; Elliott’s coming in the women’s S18 100m freestyle, and Pasterfield’s in the men’s S10 100m freestyle.

Meanwhile, fellow NSWIS swimmer Matthew Levy finished seventh in the men’s S7 400m freestyle; Katrina Porter finished seventh in the women’s S7 400m freestyle; Amanda Fowler and Taylor Corry finished fifth and 15th, respectively, in the women’s SB14 100m breaststroke; Michael Auprince finished 10th in the men’s SM9 200m individual medley, and Mitchell Kilduff finished 16th in the men’s SB14 100m breaststroke.

Day eight also saw NSWIS athlete Tesch pick up the first gold of her career, but after five Paralympic Games as a wheelchair basketballer the maiden gold came in the SKUD 18 sailing class. Tesch combined with compatriot Daniel Fitzgibbon to win gold, having already wrapped up the top spot yesterday with a race to spare. The final day of racing was cancelled due to a lack of wind, handing Tesch the gold to finally complete a full set of Paralympic medals.

The wheelchair track & road events continued on day eight of the Games, with Angela Ballard picking up a silver medal in the women’s T53 200m. Ballard clocked a new regional record of 29.35 to win silver, her second medal at the Games after a bronze earlier in the meet.

The NSWIS medal tally now stands at nine gold, six silver and 12 bronze medals.

There was high drama at the basketball arena as both the Australian men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball teams won through to their respective gold medal matches. The men’s team easily accounted for the USA with a 72-63 victory, although it was much closer in the women’s match, also against the USA. The Americans had a chance to win the match at the buzzer, however their last second chance went uncoverted to see Australia win 40-39 and earn a shot at a gold medal.

Elsewhere on day eight, Christie Dawes and Kristy Pond finished 11th overall in the women’s T54 1500m and T34 200m, respectively; Ryley Batt and the Australian men’s wheelchair rugby team defeated Sweden 60-47; Stephen Churm and Jonathan Harris finished sixth in the sonar class sailing, and Alexandra Green and Jayme Paris unfortunately failed to finish their respective road cycling races.