Within the space of one day, Australia’s Paralympics team has already scooped up six gold medals—with a bunch of bronze and silvers to boot.
The Tokyo Paralympics kicked off on August 24 with a fizz and a bang for Australia’s all-star team, who quickly got to work by smashing records in the pool and earning big on the cycling track.
Leading the pack was swimmer Lakeisha Patterson who smashed through to win the S9 400 metres freestyle final. It’s a continuation of the 22-year-old’s golden streak for Australia after she won two golds at the Rio Paralympics in 2016.
Meanwhile Will Martin actually broke a Paralympic record in the men’s S9 400m freestyle final on Wednesday. To add, Rowan Crothers won the mens S10 50m freestyle final.
With one last flourish for the day, Ben Popham took out the mens S8 100m freestyle gold, earning us our fourth first in the poool.
And then there was wild success on the cycling front.
24-year-old cyclist Paige Greco claimed her very first Paralympic gold in the C1-3 3000m individual pursuit after smashing her own record by seven seconds in the qualifier.
Then came 41-year-old star athlete Emily Petricola who whizzed through to earn Australia’s six gold overall in the C4 event. The scenes!
The epic results show just how strong Australia’s Paralympic team is, and given it’s only been one day, we’re a little hazy-eyed imagining what’s to come over the next 11 days.
If you, like us, have missed watching that constant flow of brave, pride-inducing athleticism seen during last month’s Olympics, you can watch Team Australia tackle the Tokyo Paralympics free to air on Channel Seven, or stream it online via 7Plus.
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