Simmonds clinches gold in memorable final

Ellie Simmonds won gold in the 400m freestyle S6 on Day 3 of London 2012. © • Getty Images

“I knew it was going to be so tough leading into it with Victoria being on form and I knew I had to give it my everything and give it my all. That last 50 hurt, it just killed me."

If Ellie Simmonds’ two gold medals at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games made her one of the most recognised faces in Paralympic sport, then her performance in the Aquatic Centre on the third day of the London games cemented her place as a sporting superstar.

The 18-year-old swimmer took five seconds off the world record on her way to beating American Victoria Arlen to gold in an exhilarating 400m freestyle S6 race.

Arlen, who had successfully appealed against a reclassification earlier in the day (Saturday 1 September), led for the first 300m, but Simmonds kicked hard in the final two laps to take the lead and finish first with a time of 5:19.17.

Simmonds claimed the race was one of the toughest of her life. She said: “I knew it was going to be so tough leading into it with Victoria being on form and I knew I had to give it my everything and give it my all. That last 50 hurt, it just killed me.

“[Arlen] is such an amazing athlete and she's so fast as well, so I knew that I just had to dig deep and just get everything out of me.”

Also making a name for herself is American swimmer Jessica Long. The 20-year-old won her third gold of the meet, setting a Paralympic record in the 100m breaststroke SB7 while New Zealand medal machine Sophie Pascoe won her second gold medal of the games, breaking the world record she set in the morning session.

Brazilians Daniel Dias and Andre Brasil claimed their second gold medals in London. Dias set a Paralympic record to win the the men’s 200m freestyle S5 while Brasil broke the world record in the first race of the session, the 100m butterfly S10 to win his sixth Paralympic gold medal in total.

Not to be left out, Australian Blake Cochrane also set a world record in the 100m breaststroke SB7 with fellow countryman Matthew Levy taking bronze behind Japan’s Tomotaro Nakamura.

World records also fell in the women’s 100m breaststroke with Olesya Vladykina taking gold, the men’s 50m freestyle S11 as Bozun Yang shaved 0.6 seconds off the previous record and the women’s 50m freestyle S11 made it two records and two golds out of two for her in London.

Elsewhere, Darragh McDonald won Ireland’s second gold medal in the pool in the 400m freestyle S6, Sarah Louise Rung won the 200m freestyle S5, Charles Bouwer won the 50m freestyle S13 and Ukraine’s Andriy Kalyna won the 100m backstroke SB8.

As the third day in the pool drew to a close, American Kelley Becherer won the women’s 50m freestyle S13 and Yang Yang of China won the final race of the day, the men’s 200m freestyle S2, in a Paralympic record time of 4:36.18.