Live: Aussies in contention for more gold at Paris Paralympics, Leary breaks world record

Yang  is just one game away from gold, she now leads Partyka 2-0 in what’s been a dominant showing so far.

Woah!

At the end of the fourth set, Mexico’s Samuel Molina had the chance to win the match with a ten.

The best he could do was an eight and the set went to Australia’s Kenton-Smith.

So, we go into the deciding set with the scores locked at 4-4.

Molina is the world number one, by the way.

Australia’s Taymon Kenton-Smith is back out there already!

At the end of the third set in the round of 16 tie, Mexico’s Samuel Molina is up 4-2.

Can Taymon pull off another upset?

He has some work to do.

Australia’s Alistair Donohoe will ride for gold in the men’s C5 individual time trial event, which has just got underway.

Donohoe will start 12th in the field of 13 para cyclists.

Yang Qian has the early advantage, winning the first game against Natalia Partyka 11-6 in seven minutes.

Aussie Yang Qian has just started her women’s singles class 10 gold medal game against Poland’s Natalia Partyka.

Yang is the reigning champion, and prior to Tokyo, she represented China.

Partyka has won six Paralympic golds, including four consecutive titles in this event between Athens 2004 and Rio 2016.

And can you believe this stat – she made her Paralympic debut as an 11-year-old in Sydney 2000!

Yang is hoping for her second gold these Games, after winning the doubles with Li Na Lei.

Yes, sorry about that!

Taymon will be back in action in the archery at 9:45 TONIGHT, not tomorrow.

A medal to match the hair would be very nice!

Australia’s powerhouse boccia duo Jamieson Leeson and Dan Michel are on court to begin their mixed pairs quarterfinal against Howon Jeong and Sunhee Kang of the Korea Republic.

Now, these four have some history.

In the men’s BC3 gold medal match, Jeong downed Dan 5-2.

And in the women’s BC3 pool phase, Jam was comfortably beaten 6-1 by Kang.

But there’s no need for panic.

Jam and Dan are the world’s number one ranked pair and together they have built a well-oiled boccia machine.

This is one not to miss.

One of the most successful Paralympians in history, Great Britain’s Sarah Storey, won her 18th Games gold in the women’s C5 individual time trial.

But she was blunt when delivering her assessment of the 14.1km course, which is half the distance of the men’s C5 race,

“This is the shortest Paralympic time trial we’ve ever had and I think it’s a real shame that we don’t get to showcase Para sport in the way that you want it to, so I hope this is the only time it’s less than 20k,” she said.

“There’s plenty of time in the day for us to do two laps like the men and having fought so hard for parity in women’s cycling to not have it in Para cycling after what we had in Glasgow (World Championships) last year is a real disappointment.

“I’ve had to put that disappointment aside and just concentrate on what I can control because I couldn’t control the race distance.

“But I really hope that they never do this to the women again because I think it’s been appalling.”

Let’s just re-cap what Lauren Parker has done in Paris because it is the stuff of true champions.

Two days ago she won a redemptive gold in the Para triathlon, now she is a silver medallist in a different sport, Para cycling road.

She’s the first Australian in 44 years to win Paralympic medals in two different sports at the same Games, and she still has one event to come – the road race. 

“My arms are absolutely smashed, they were sore before I event started but I pushed through and I did all I could,” she told the Nine Network.

“I can’t believe that I’ve been able to do it, it’s been a goal of mine to do both sports since Tokyo.”

Parker was nine second behind eventual winner, American Kate Brim.

“I wish I had the extra nine seconds in me,” Parker said.

“I couldn’t be happier, I’m proud of myself, it’s been a massive accomplishment to back up after the triathlon, I did the best I could today.”

Australia’s Taymon Kenton-Smith has produced a massive upset in his round of 32 clash with Asian champion and world number four Jun Gan of China.

The yellow-haired Australian was on his game from start to finish and looks like he could really ruffle some feathers in the latter stages of the tournament.

The final score was 6-2.

He will begin his individual recurve round of 16 tie at 9:45pm tomorrow night.

Aussie Ma Lin has ensured he’ll play for a medal in Paris, he claimed a comprehensive 3-0 win over Great Britain’s Stacey Joshua in the quarterfinals.

Ma won four gold medals representing China, and at his first Games in the green and gold in Tokyo he got silver.

Coming up at 9:45pm AEST, Yang Qian will face off against Poland’s Natalya Partyka in the women’s singles class 10 gold medal match.

Another Australian is contesting the para equestrian program this evening (AEST), with Lisa Martin in the individual event – Grade V.

Martin and her horse Vilaggio are in the field of 17, with the medals to be decided tonight.

We’ll keep you across how they go.

Australia’s Dianne Barnes and her horse Sorena have finished 12th in the Para equestrian grade IV with a score of 65.444%.

The Netherlands’ Demi Haerkens was ahead at the intermission and none of the second half’s performances had enough to overtake her score of 78.722%.

Another Dutchwoman, Sanne Voets, took silver and Germany’s Anna-Lena Niehues won bronze.

As we’ve just mentioned, Mali Lovell has qualified for the final of the 100m T36 with a personal best time of 14.57.

Australia’s other competitor in the event, Abby Craswell, ran a really solid fourth in the second heat, but her time of 15.28 wasn’t quite enough to sneak through.

Kiwi Danielle Aitchison qualified fastest with a time 13.74, but Lovell will also have to contend with World Record holder Yiting Shi. The Chinese runner didn’t seem to break a sweat as she won the second heat by over half a second.

The final is scheduled for 3:04am AEST.

Classification is a topic we’ve spoken about a lot during the Paralympics, and if you need a refresher check out this excellent article from our blogging MVP Henry Hanson.

For some athletes, their classification may never change but for others it may be an ongoing process, because the nature of their impairment may change.

Or sometimes the International Paralympic Committee may change the “minimum impairment criteria” of a sport, as they did with wheelchair basketball in 2020, which meant many athletes were no longer eligible to play.

And if you’re still interested in more information, we’ve produced this video featuring physiotherapist and classifier Tanja Spencer and Para athlete Sam Rizzo, who’s competing in Paris, demonstrating the classification process.

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Australia’s Mali Lovell has qualified for the final of the 100m T36 with a personal best time of 14.57.

She finished third in the first heat and went through as one of the three automatic qualifiers.

Australia’s Abby Craswell is about to run in the second heat…

Fresh off a bronze in the 200m T36, Mali Lovell is back on the track for her 100m heat.

She’ll be joined by fellow Aussie Abby Craswell, who is on Paralympic debut.

The first three in each heat will qualify, as well as the next two quickest across the two.

They’re up now…