Paralympics: Jessica Hamill wins bronze in shot put

Jessica Hamill. photo / Getty

New Zealand's Jessica Hamill has claimed bronze in the Shot Put F34 at the Rio Paralympics.

Hamill had a best attempt of 7.54m. China's Lijuan Zou claimed gold with a world record attempt of 8.75m. Poland's Lucyna Kornobys took silver with a best attempt of 8m.

Hamill's bronze is New Zealand's 17th medal of the Games.

Fellow para-athlete Liam Malone, who has already won a gold and silver at the Games, eased into the final of the 400m T44 with the second best time.

Earlier today Paralympic debutant Scott Martlew made history as he competed in a Para-Canoe, a sport that has also made a Paralympic debut in Rio.

Martlew advanced to the final of the Men's KL3, after being called up to the New Zealand Paralympic team only two weeks ago.

A strong head wind did not seem to faze Martlew as he crossed the finish line in fourth place in his semifnal. His time of 44:28.4 was only 1.4 seconds behind the winner Oliver (GBR).

Today the focus of Para-Cycling moved to the road with Kate Horan first up in the Time Trial C4 (road cycling). Horan finished eighth in a time of 33:32.37. Fraser Sharp followed up with an eighth in the Men's Time Trial C3 while Emma Foy just missed out on the medals following a fourth in the Women's Time Trial BVI. Amanda Cameron came ninth in the same event.

Last night's gold medallist Nikita Howarth was in action in the pool finishing seventh in the Women's 100m Breaststroke SB9.

The final Kiwi Para-Shooter in action today was Greg Reid at Deodoro Stadium. Following Reid's outstanding performance three days ago he had high hopes today but unfortunately did not qualify for the final shooting a total of 596.1 to place 37th in the R3 Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1.

While at Marina de Gloria the Sonar crew have completed one of their three races today placing fourth behind Norway, USA and the winning crew Great Britain. The Sonar crew now sit in third place overall. The crew will hope the weather conditions remain favourable to contest the final two races scheduled today.