US Paralympians grab more golden glory in Tokyo!
Tokyo, Japan - Team USA continues to excel at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games with record-breaking success in the water and on the track.
Two American women took the top spots in the women’s 200-meter Individual Medley SM7, adding to Team USA's swimming medal haul.
Mallory Weggemann (32) won her first Paralympic gold medal since topping the podium back during the 2012 London Games, finishing at 2:55.2
Her teammate Ahalya Lettenberger won the silver in her first-ever Paralympic final, coming in at 3:02.82.
They both beat out Aussie Tiffany Thomas Kane, who grabbed bronze to round out the top three.
Both swimmers are back on Sunday, as Weggeman swims in the 50 and 100-meter freestyles, 50-meter butterfly, 100-meter backstroke, and 100-meter breaststroke, while Lettenberger will return for the 400-meter freestyle.
On the men’s side, Robert Griswold finished first in the men’s 100-meter backstroke S8, with a world record-breaking, gold-medal time of 1:02:55.
The silver medal was nabbed by Spain’s Inigo Llopis Sanz coming in at 1:06.82, and Fengqi Liu of China took the bronze with a time of 1:07.09.
This was Griswold’s first gold medal, though he was on the Paralympic podium at the 2016 Rio Games, when he earned a bronze.
A first time Paralympian blazes past the competition in record time
Nick Mayhugh, a former college soccer player, ran his way right into the record books and won the gold in the men’s 100-meter T37 final on Friday.
The race is classified for competitors who have coordination impairments that affect the arms and legs.
The runner finished his first-ever Paralympic final with a winning time of 10.95 seconds, only slightly slower than the 10.97 time he ran previously, which at the time, was a world and Paralympic record.
Russian sprinter Andrei Vdovin claimed the silver medal while Indonesia’s Saptoyoga Purnomo received the bronze.
Mayhugh has the 200-meter and the 400-meter races left to run in Tokyo, where he can add to his high-speed success.
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire