Swimming: The men’s 100m backstroke finals are swum, in the S1 and S2 categories. Iyad Shalabi takes out the S1 gold for Israel, with Anton Kol silver for Ukraine and Francesco Bettella bronze for Italy.
In the S2, gold goes to Alberto Abarza of Chile, ahead of Brazil’s Gabriel dos Santos Araujo and Russia’s Vladimir Danilenko.
Wheelchair basketball: Half time between Japan and Australia’s women, the hosts leading 34 to 28.
Until someone tells me otherwise, I’m going to assume from voice alone that the commentator on the world swimming feed is Kristen Schall. It makes me happy.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lvd6MBsiDBo?feature=oembed
A gold 400 double for Australia
Swimming: Lakeisha Patterson holds on! By eight hundredths of a second, in the women’s 400m S9! She goes out hard early, over a body length ahead by the 200 metre mark. Perhaps thinking that she doesn’t have the closing speed of Hungary’s Zsofia Konkoly and and GB’s Toni Shaw. They do start making ground in the last 100, and are looking to strike in the last 50, but Patterson gives it everything she’s got. It looks to me like Konkoly is about to catch her in the last 30, and perhaps even shades ahead, but Patterson finds something extra to hold ground. They stroke for the wall at the same time, and Patterson touches first.
Shaw gets bronze, Australia’s Ellie Cole is fourth.
- Australia’s Ellie Cole and Lakeisha Patterson compete. Photograph: Adam Pretty/Getty Images*
Updated
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Gold and bronze for Australia!
Swimming: But not for the world record holder and gold medallist from the last two games, Brenden Hall. He slips to fourth and can’t find any way to rally in the last 100 metres. The winner instead is Will Martin! He is ahead of world record time into the last 30 metres before falling just behind it late. But he went out strongly and led the whole way. A powerful swim.
4:10:25, it’s a Paralympic Games record in the 400m S9.
Ugo Didier of France hung onto Martin for silver, while teenage Australian Alexander Tuckfield keeps ahead of Hall for bronze.
- Australia’s William Martin wins the Men’s 400m Freestyle S9 Final. Photograph: John Walton/PA*
Updated
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Swimming: The men’s 400m S9 final is underway! Three Australians in the field. Or more accurately, in the pool.
Swimming: The bell tolls 5pm in Tokyo, and this is now pretty much a swimming blog for the next three hours. I’ll try to keep half an eye on other things, but there are a lot of medals up for grabs on night one in the pool. Or is this night two? I don’t know who decides these things.
Wheelchair fencing: The placements for the gold medal matches have been decided.
Men’s sabre, category A:
Artem Manko (Ukraine)
Li Hao (China)
Men’s sabre, category B:
Adrian Castro (Poland)
Feng Yanke (China)
Women’s sabre, category A:
Nino Tibilashvili (Georgia)
Bian Jing (China)
Women’s sabre, category B:
Olena Fedota (Ukraine)
Tan Shumei (China)
Table tennis: Australia’s Joel Coughlan is up in the men’s Class 10 group matches, having just lost the first set to Montenegro’s Filip Radovic.
If you haven’t caught it yet, here is Paul’s take on the opening ceremony.
Wheelchair basketball: Canada blew away Great Britain late in the fourth quarter. It ends 54-73 in the Group A match. GB will play Australia, Germany, and Japan next. Although four of the five teams in each pool make the quarters, so there’s no great pressure yet.
- Arinn Young of Canada in action against Great Britain. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters*
Updated
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Geoff Lemon
Thanks Emma. Can’t keep me away. What is on tonight, I hear you ask? Bloody well stacks, is my regionally specific answer.
- Swimming – well, all of it. Or that’s how it feels. Gold up for grabs from 5pm local time in the:
400m freestyle S9, men and women
100m backstroke S1, men
100m backstroke S2, men and women
100m butterfly S14, men and women
50m breaststroke SB3, men
50m freestyle S6, women
50m freestyle S10, men and women
100m butterfly S13, men and women
200m freestyle S5, men and women
100m freestyle S8, men - Wheelchair basketball – Australia and Japan in the women’s pool match at 5pm.
- 5:30pm for goalball between Germany and Turkey’s men, and wheelchair rugby between Great Britain and Canada.
- Goalball at 7:30pm between Australia and Israel’s women
- Wheelchair rugby at 8pm between France and Japan
- Goalball at 8:30 between Brazil and the USA, and wheelchair basketball between Korea and Spain.
While we are on the topic of wheelchair basketball, Kieran Pender has written a piece on one of Australia’s men’s players, Jannik Blair, about his backstory and his new customised carbon fibre wheelchair seat.
I’m handing you over to Geoff now, who didn’t get enough of the action earlier and is back for more.
Wheelchair basketball: It’s three-quarter-time and Canada’s lead has blown out to 45-39. They won that quarter 19-10, and the Brits have work to do to make up the difference.
Here is the medal table as it stands, for those who enjoy a bit of AUS/GBR rivalry:
Wheelchair basketball: Team GB’s women are ahead 29-26 leading into the third term of their opening Group A match against Canada. It has been a pretty evenly matched encounter but Kathleen Dandeneau has been the star with a 15-point haul for Canada.
- Kathleen Dandeneau of Canada in action with Judith Hamer of Britain. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters*
Wheelchair rugby: Well well well, Paralympics newbies Denmark have beaten Australia. It was tied at 53-53 with 15 seconds on the clock and Sebastian Frederiksen used the time efficiently to score and inch ahead 54-53. Ryley Batt wheeled away up the other end of the court with his eyes on the target but concedes a turnover after the ball is ruled out of bounds. What can the Danes do in 2.7 seconds? What can anybody do in 2.7 seconds? In truth they don’t need to do anything but hold onto the ball until the whistle goes. Major upset.
Wheelchair rugby: Denmark’s men have the upper hand over Australia, leading 47-46 with just under four minutes to place.
Bangma wins men’s B 4,000m individual pursuit gold
Track cycling: Sensational ride from Tristan Bangma, the Dutch rising star who has just dethroned British defending champion Stephen Bate in the tandem race for visually impaired athletes. Bangma started comfortably in front and overlapped just after the 3,000m mark. Pole Marcin Polak claimed bronze by 0.276 seconds from Frenchman Alexandre Lloveras.
- Netherland’s Tristan Bangma and pilot Patrick Bos. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA*
Storey wins women’s C5 3,000m individual pursuit gold
Track cycling: Sarah Storey has cleaned up in a Team GB one-two, overlapping compatriot Crystal Lane-Wright. It is Storey’s 15th Paralympic gold across two different sports and eight Games. If that’s not enough to intimidate Lane-Wright nothing is. France’s Marie Patouillet won her bronze medal race against Kiwi Nicole Murray.
- Dame Sarah Storey celebrates her gold. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA*
Updated
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Wheelchair rugby: At half-time Australia have pulled ahead 25-23. Captain Ryley Batt, playing at his fifth Paralympics, scored the last two tries to take his haul to 13. That tops the output of Denmark’s Sebastian Frederiksen on 11. The disability class of both players is 3.5.
For the uninitiated, players are given an official classification depending on their level of functional ability, rated from 0.5 to 3.5 with 0.5 being the most severe. Generally, the higher-rated players have more speed and mobility and so fill attacking roles. Four players are on the court for each time and the total points of those four players cannot exceed 8.5.
- Australia’s Ryley Batt in action with Denmark’s Mikkel Schoettel. Photograph: Bernadett Szabó/Reuters*
Wheelchair rugby: The Danes have thrown down the gauntlet to Australia, matching them goal for goal partly thanks to some brutally on-point defence. As the clock ticks down to the end of the second quarter the score stands at 21-21.
Medal ceremonies are under way at the velodrome, which is pretty spesh. Even without a crowd it feels as if there is a vibe watching on TV. I’m sure it’s all real noise.
And amusingly, Channel Seven has just shown the medal table. On day one. After two events. Unsurprisingly, Australia have two gold medals and sit top. Stop the count.
Updated
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Greco has spoken to Seven and she’s pretty emotional.
“Sorry,” she saays through tears. “I’m just so happy. Can’t believe we did it. It was a good race. Yeah. I still can’t believe it. I can’t thank the team at AusCycling [enough], my coach, their support is amazing. My family and friends, wouldn’t be here without them.”
- Paige Greco after winning gold. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA*
Petricola wins women’s C4 3,000m individual pursuit
The Australian’s lead blew out to seven seconds at the 2,000m mark and she rolled her soon thereafter.
Updated
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Emily Petricola is going for Australia’s second gold in as many attempts in her gold medal race against the US’s Shawn Morelli. As it stands at the 1,000m mark is she a second and a half in the lead.
Meg Lemon has just missed out on bronze in the women’s C4 3000m individual pursuit to Canadian Keely Shaw, who comfortably accounted for her Australian counterpart.
It’s gold gold gold for Australia! That world record is the seventh (seventh!) on the track today and the second set by Greco. Probably the most remarkable element of Greco’s performance in that race is that her first 250m or so were near-identical to her last race.
- Australia’s Paige Greco celebrates winning Gold in the Women’s C1-3 3000m Individual Pursuit during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on day one of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA*
Updated
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Paige Greco wins women’s C1-3 3,000m individual pursuit
The Australian has finished in an astonishing 3:50.815.
Updated
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Greco, who posted a new world record earlier in qualifying, was quicker at the 1,000m mark than then. In other words, this is QUICK. Wang slightly off the pace.