KEY POINTS:
Christchurch swimmer Sophie Pascoe last night won gold in the pool at the Beijing Paralympics.
The 15-year-old, who lost a lower leg in a lawnmowing accident when she was aged 2, easily won the women's 100m breaststroke with a personal-best time of 1m 22.58s, nearly 2s ahead of second-placed Sarai Gascon of Spain in 1m 24.51s. Lousie Watkin of Great Britain was third in a time of 1m 26.10s.
It is the second Beijing Games medal for Pascoe, who won a silver in the 100m butterfly earlier in the week.
"I just wanted to stay in the first 50 and then come home and go for that gold medal. I'm really out of words to say," said Pascoe.
New Zealand now has five medals - two golds, two silver and one bronze.
Battered and bruised New Zealander Paula Tesoriero was rejoicing last night after winning a second track cycling medal.
The 33-year-old won bronze in the individual pursuit, beating Australian Jayne Paris in the race for third place by nearly 20s on the closing day at the velodrome.
Her time of 4m 26.080s was slightly slower than her personal best to qualify but still way too quick for Paris.
Tesoriero won a gold in the time trial two days earlier but crashed on her celebration lap.
"I'm really, really, rapt with that," she said. "Two medals at this level is just awesome. "The pursuit is a really hard event. You've got to come out hard and qualify in the morning, then come out and potentially [go] harder in the afternoon," Tesoriero said.
She had found it difficult to eat because of pain in her jaw since the fall and was only cleared to race by a team medic overnight.
"My jaw is saw, my body is fairly bruised from the crash on Monday. So on a personal level to come out again and medal today is a confidence booster."
The visibly scarred Tesoriero was all grit and determination in her race yesterday, starting well but fading a little during the middle stages before coming home strongly.
Her remaining race is the road time trial.
In the men's 50m butterfly, Cameron Leslie qualified sixth in 43.20s, just off his personal best of 43.16s. Daniel Sharp missed qualifying in the 100m freestyle.
Earlier, Wellington's Kate Horan claimed silver in the 200m final on the track.
Horan, 33, looked to be out of the medals coming into the final 20m of the race, but the favourite and unbeaten runner of the past few years, April Holmes from the US, fell and took second-placed runner Marie-Amelie Fur of France with her.
Horan finished second in a time of 28.36s. For her, the medal was a family affair and a surprise as well.
"It was unbelievable on the podium," Horan said. "There were three girls all with the biggest smiles on their faces. It was so unexpected, we were all really racing for bronze to start with.
"It was great to have my whole family there: Mum [Val] and Dad [Neil] and the boys, Tony [aged 16] and Jared [aged 11]. The boys were blown away with the medal and when they saw guys wanting photos.
"You couldn't ask for a better atmosphere. When I walked out into the stadium the noise from the crowd was amazing. In Athens I could see Mum and Dad in the stadium - they were the only ones there - but in Beijing it was all so surreal.
"For my Mum and Dad and the boys to experience it all, it was pretty special."
Horan will compete again on Sunday in the 100m.
Team captain Tim Prendergast from Wellington made the final of the 5000m after coming second in a slow heat, although he ran the final lap of the 12-and-a-half circuit race in a good time of 59s.
In cycling, the tandem of Jayne Parsons and Annaliisa Farrell missed out on a bronze in the individual pursuit after being beaten in the third-place medal race-off by the United States.
The pair finished with a time of 3m 47.90s against the Americans' 3m 41.521s.
Shooter Michael Johnson, a gold medallist in Athens, missed the final of the air rifle prone on a countback in the heats.
- NZPA
