Sport

Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Day 5: Jason Smyth wins 100m gold; Kerrie Leonard through to last eight

Irish powerlifter Britney Arendse sets a new personal best in the 73kg weight category

Ireland’s Jason Smyth on his way to winning his heat. Photograph: Tommy Dickson/Inpho

Sun Aug 29 2021 - 13:48
  • Athletics: Jason Smyth wins gold in the T13 100m final. Jordan Lee finishes ninth on his Paralympic debut in the T47 High Jump.
  • Equestrian: Team Ireland finish the team event in 12th place.
  • Swimming: Róisín Ní Riain finishes seventh in the S13 50m freestyle heats.
  • Powerlifting: Britney Arendse smashes her personal best with every one of her three lifts to finish in seventh place overall.
  • Archery: Kerrie Leonard is through to the last eight after beating India's Jyoti Jyoti in the Para archery.

Athletics

Jason Smyth won his sixth Paralympic gold medal after edging the T13 100m final on Sunday morning.

Algeria’s Skander Djamil Athmani was the fastest qualifier (winning the first heat in a time of 10.59), and forced a photo finish in the final.

Making his fourth appearance at a Paralympic Games, Smyth comfortably qualified for the final. The Derry native won the second heat ahead of the USA’s Isaac Jean-Paul in a time of 10.74. He won the final with a season’s best 10.53.

The 34-year-old is a phenomenon by any yardstick, that’s 21 gold medals now at major championships over a 16-year sprinting career.

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Killarney T47 high jumper Jordan Lee finished ninth on his Paralympic debut, clearing 1.74m with his opening jump but then failing at 1.79m in a competition won by defending T47 high and long jump champion Roderick Townsend (USA) in a new world record of 2.15m, with the minor medallists both clearing 2.06m.

"Obviously I'm quite disappointed with my performance," explained Lee. "I just didn't have the bounce in my legs today. I've only been in the sport for the last three years and to be able to get to the Paralympic Games with three years work is an achievement already but I hope to reach my prime in future Games at Paris and Los Angeles."

Swimming

Róisín Ní Riain finished her S13 50m freestyle swimming heat in a time of 28.88 seconds. Her heat was won by Australia's Katja Dedekind in 27.44.

The fastest across the three heats was Brazil’s Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago in 26.87.

The 16-year-old finished fifth in the 400m freestyle final on Friday and will return to action on Monday in the S13 200m individual medley. Her heat will take place at 2.57am.

Archery

Kerrie Leonard is through to the last eight after beating India's Jyoti Jyoti - ranked three places ahead of her after the seeding round - 141-137 in the Para archery 1/16 elimination round at the Yumenoshima Final Field.

Kerrie Leonard competes against Jyoti Baliyan of India at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field. Photograph: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

She will return to action on Monday in the 1/8 elimination round at 2.59am.

“What I really want from these games is to get more people into the sport,” explained Leonard after her win. “I want more Para archers. I want to create a system for spotting talent in Ireland and nurturing it, so the longer I can stay in this competition the better.”

Leonard trailed 26-27 after the first end but then produced two perfect ‘spiders’ (the equivalent of a bullseye) to win the second end 29-25 and lead by three (55-52). Her Indian opponent responded by shooting a faultless third end (30-29) but Leonard crucially only dropped one point to hold a two-point lead (84-82) ahead of the dramatic fourth end.

Jyoti kept the pressure on by shooting 29 but Leonard opened with two spiders and then, when her arrow slipped before her third shot, she stopped, re-set herself and produced a third spider to clinch the perfect score (30-29) and move three points clear (114-111).

Both women were less accurate in the final end (27-26) but the 30-year-old from Culmullen, who is Ireland’s first archer in a Paralympic or Olympic Games in 13 years, had already done enough to clinch a famous victory. She next faces Stepanida Artakhinova (RPC) in the last 16 on Monday at 2.59am.

Powerlifting

Irish powerlifter Britney Arendse set a new personal best in the 73kg weight category to finish in seventh place overall. The 21 year-old from Mullagh Co Cavan lifted three PBs in all - 103kg, 104kg and then 107kg.

The battle for the medals went to the final lift, with Brazil’s Mariana D’Andrea coming out on top, China’s Lili Xu won the silver medal and France’s Souhad Ghazouani took bronze.

Britney Arendse in the Women’s 73kg final at the Tokyo International Forum. Photograph: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

“I had no idea that I would get the three PB’s, one PB and a bonus medal maybe but I got the three PB’s instead and that’s even bigger,” explained a proud Arendse.

“106 (kg) was what was decided weeks ago. 107 (kg) was decided literally seconds after I came off the stage. We didn’t think we’d get it but we just said go for it you know.”

Equestrian

The Irish Equestrian team brought their Paralympic Games to a close on Sunday in the team event. Tamsin Addison scored 66.232 in the Grade V section to give Team Ireland a total score of 207.176 after Michael Murphy and Kate Kerr Horan's events on Saturday. The team finished in 12th place.

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