Sophie Pascoe reacts after winning silver. Photo / Getty
Sophie Pascoe reacts after winning silver. Photo / Getty
Swim superstar Sophie Pascoe has claimed New Zealand's first medal of the Paralympic Games, winning silver in the SB8 100m breaststroke.
Pascoe was narrowly pipped at the line tonight by Ireland's Ellen Keane, who stopped the clock 0.39 seconds faster than the Kiwi in a time of 1:19.93 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Keane had also barely edged Pascoe in this afternoon's heats, winning by 0.04 seconds, and she repeated her race strategy in the final to hold off New Zealand's most successful Paralympian.
Pascoe emerged first from the water in the final and led Keane by 0.27 seconds at the turn but the Irishwomen made up huge ground underwater and soon pulled ahead.
The pair drew level as the race entered the last 25 metres and, just as she had in the heat, it was Keane who finished strongest to touch the wall first.
Sophie Pascoe reacts after winning silver. Photo / Getty
Although she was unable to claim her 10th gold medal, the silver was Pascoe's seventh and increases her remarkable overall tally to 16 across four Games.
The 28-year-old will have four more chances to add to that count yet, the first of which will come in the S9 100m backstroke on Monday.
Pascoe will likely think of tonight as solid preparation for what is shaping as a busy week, with her next four races coming on consecutive days.
The Kiwi's build-up for these Games has been severely hampered and she counted even reaching the startline as a good achievement after fighting off doubts about her involvement when the Paralympics were postponed 12 months ago.
Pascoe had been unable to race in any international warm-up events, last competing overseas in 2019, and she hadn't lined up at a competitive swim meet since the national championships in April.
But tonight's result will have proven she still belongs at the top level, 13 years after first making a splash with three gold medals in her Paralympics debut.
Meanwhile, the Wheel Blacks have fallen out of medal contention after suffering their second straight defeat.
The Kiwi side, who made their Paralympics return after missing out on the last two Games, went down 60-37 to Great Britain tonight after yesterday's 63-35 loss to the United States.
The Wheel Blacks will finish pool play with a clash against Canada on Friday night before rounding out their campaign with a classification game on Saturday.
