Long remains on par in pool

Long has already won four gold and two silver medals at these Games.

USA's Jessica Long stormed to yet another world record as she astonished the Aquatics Centre and her close rival Heather Frederiksen in the women’s 100m freestyle S8 on Thursday morning (6 September).

Long has already won four gold and two silver medals at these Games, and another surely beckons in the evening final, as she qualified emphatically in a time of 1:06:06, with Frederiksen finishing second and Australian Maddison Elliot coming third.

Jacqueline Freney has electrified the aquatics centre during these games, treating the capacity crowds to incredible swimming that has collected her six gold medals.

And the seventh looks inevitably like it’s going to be heading her way this evening in the women’s 400m freestyle S7. The Australian ripped apart the field in qualifying as she smashed the Paralympic record by 16 seconds and was 21 seconds ahead of her closest competitor Susannah Rodgers.

Speaking about the record, she said: "I just wanted to go out there today and see how it went. It is actually faster than my heats in Beijing (2008) by four seconds, so, hopefully, I can go out there and smash it tonight."

However, the Australian was left quite shocked at her incredible margin of victory.

"I actually thought I false started because, when I dived in, no one was around me, so I thought to myself, 'OK, what is going on?' When I did my turn, I looked around a bit and I saw the other guys coming, so I thought I should be alright," she said.

Great Britain’s Josef Craig looks assured of a medal this evening as he powered to a new world record of 4:45.79 to qualify fastest in the men’s 400m freestyle S7, ahead of compatriot Jonathan Fox.

The 15-year-old was left stunned by his unforeseen time, he said: "I didn't expect that. I just looked at the clock and I thought, 'God, I've just done a massive PB, that'll do, my achievements are done for this competition.'

“But then I sort of got my focus back and saw 'world record' next to the time and I thought, 'There's a problem on the clock. I can't break a world record yet.'

"I'm still quite young you know. I'm just taking it one step at a time. I don't know what to think about that, it's just amazing."

It’s the one of the first Paralympic Games in which S14 athletes – those with an intellectual impairment – have been able to compete. With that said, it means records are up for grabs, and Japan’s Yasuhiro Tanaka took full advantage in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14 to claim a new world record in 1:07:08.

And that was true of Michelle Alonso Morales in the women’s alternative too, as she set a new Paralympic record of 1:18:78.

There was also yet another Paralympic record for New Zealand’s double gold medallist Sophie Pascoe as she pushed past Elodie Lorandi and Summer Mortimer to progress quickest in the women’s 100m freestyle.

Matthew Cowdrey, who was crowned Australia’s most successful Paralympian after his gold medal on Wednesday, continued the domination of his classification by qualifying fastest once more in the men’s 200m individual medley SM9.

And in the women’s alternative, Natalie du Toit set about retaining her crown by charging away from a host of British athletes, with Stephanie Millward and Louise Watkin in second and third.

But the most entertaining heat of the morning session was the men’s 100m freestyle S10 with Andrew Pasterfield edging out his nemesis Andre Brasil in 0.01 of a second to qualify fastest.

Elsewhere, there were good qualifying swims by Arnost Petracek in the men’s 50m backstroke S4, Lisette Teunissen in the women’s 50m backstroke, Denis Tarasov in the men’s 100m freestyle, Daniel Dias in the men’s 50m backstroke S5 and Bradley Snyder in the men’s 100m butterfly S11.