Great Britain gets its second gold medal in swimming at the Paralympic Games with a new world record.

Great Britain clinches its second gold medal in swimming at the Paralympic Games with a new world record.

Both Poppy Maskill and Tully Kearney won gold medals in the pool, along with three more silver medals—one in swimming and two on the track—and a bronze in table tennis. Swimmers Tully Kearney and Poppy Maskill won the first two gold medals for Paralympics GB in the Paris Games.

Maskill’s time of one minute and three seconds in the final of the women’s 100m butterfly S14 event broke the world record by a third of a second. There were plenty of smiles and waves from Maskill in Paris as she became the first to win a gold medal for Paralympics GB on the opening day. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer tweeted to congratulate Maskill—who made her debut at the Games—on her “outstanding achievement.” This gold was soon followed by another from Tully Kearney in the women’s S5 200m freestyle.

Kearney was also the fastest in the heats and holds the current world record in this event. There was more medal success for Great Britain in swimming after William Ellard secured a silver medal in the men’s S14 100m butterfly final.

Ellard led halfway through but was beaten by Denmark’s Alexander Helhouis, while Brazil’s Gabriel Bandeira took the bronze.

Paralympics GB’s opening medal on the track went to cyclist Daphne Schrager, who took silver in the C1-3 3000m individual pursuit.

Schrager was defeated by China’s Xiaomei Wang, who won the gold in a world record time in the final. Elsewhere, the tandem pair of Steve Bate and Chris Latham won silver in the men’s B 4000m individual pursuit.

A fall in the velodrome for the defending champion

Earlier, British cyclist and defending champion Kadeena Cox was forced to withdraw from the women’s C4-5 500m time trial.

She was the second fastest in qualifying, behind Dutch rider Caroline Groot, but fell in the first corner of the medal race after wobbling from a slow start. Leeds-born Cox was denied a restart as the fall was deemed not to be due to a mechanical fault.

She continued to receive treatment on the track floor long after the event had finished.

The world record holder had looked likely to become Great Britain’s first medalist of the Games after her victories in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

Cox is set to race again on Sunday when she defends her mixed team sprint title in the C1-5 class.

Archer Greenham recovers from a “baby scare”

Meanwhile, British archer Jodie Greenham spent two days in a maternity ward in Paris, thinking she might be going into early labor, before achieving her personal best performance at the Paralympics.

At 28 weeks pregnant and competing in the French capital, the 31-year-old went to the hospital over the weekend after noticing a lack of movement from her unborn baby. She praised the care she received and said her baby is “healthy,” after she scored 693 to place fourth in the women’s compound event on Thursday.

Elsewhere in table tennis, there was a bronze for Britain’s Billy Toomey, who is just 14 years old, and Felicity Pickard.

As of 10:15 PM, Team Great Britain was second in the medal table behind China.