Britain lie third in the medal table at the end of day one of the London 2012 Paralympic Games after winning seven medals from four sports, two fewer than Australia who are second behind table-toppers China.
Super Storey wins first for Britain: Sarah Storey (pictured above) clinched Britain’s first gold of the Games, just hours after she had smashed the world record in qualifying for the C5 Individual Pursuit final and minutes after Mark Colbourne had claimed Britain’s first medal – a silver - in the Velodrome.
Fox flies to gold and world record: Three ParalympicsGB swimmers washed up with medals on the first evening’s action at the Aquatics Centre where the plaudits belonged to gold medallist and world record breaker Jonathan Fox.
Quilter bags battling bronze: Judoka Ben Quilter bounced back from quarter-final defeat to take bronze on the mat at the ExCeL.
Newson takes bronze with PB lift: Zoe Newson lifted a personal best 88kg to capture Powerlifting bronze in the Under 40kg class.
ParalympicsGB medals Day 1: Gold: 2. Silver: 3. Bronze: 2.
ParalympicsGB medals total: Gold: 2. Silver: 3. Bronze: 2.
Sport by sport round-up
Archery: Kenny Allen crowned his first appearance at a Paralympics with a Games record to top the men’s Recurve Standing rankings and make him one of the medal favourites. Danielle Brown placed first in the women’s Compound competition, matching her Paralympic record from Beijing.
Cycling: Sarah Storey stormed to victory in the Velodrome, riding a wave of noise to overtake her opponent well before she’d pedalled the full 3km of her Pursuit final. Mark Colbourne had raised the roof himself when he struck silver in the men’s C1-2-3 1km Time Tria,l leaving team-mate Darren Kenny in fourth.
Equestrian: Lee Pearson and Natasha Baker won their events on the opening day of the Team test at Greenwich Park. Despite making an error, Pearson overcame the rain to score 74.682% while Baker scored 76.095%, her highest in international events.
Goalball: Niall Graham scored Britain’s first ever Paralympic goal but it was a tough opening match for GB’s men who lost 11-1 to world champions Lithuania. It was a similar story for the GB women who lost 7-1 to defending champions China in their first group game.
Judo: Ben Quilter won bronze in the Under-60kg class, overcoming a left knee injury and quarter-final defeat to beat Japan’s Takaaki Hirai in just over a minute in the bronze medal match.
Powerlifting: Zoe Newson, the youngest member of GB’s squad, celebrated her Paralympic Games debut by equaling her personal best to take bronze in the Under 40kg class.
Shooting: Di Coates’ hopes of a sixth Paralympic medal slipped by in her last series of qualifying shots and she missed the Air Rifle final by two points. Adrian Bunclark missed out on a place in his Air Pistol final on his first taste of Paralympic Games action.
Sitting Volleyball: Britain’s men fought hard against Beijing bronze medallists Russia but went down in three sets.
Swimming: Jonathan Fox broke the S7 Backstroke world record in his morning heat and led the final from start to finish to take Britain’s second gold of the Games. Nyree Kindred struck silver in the S6 100m Backstroke, her 10th Paralympic medal, and 16 year old Hannah Russell smashed her British S12 400m Freestyle record to place second in that event.
Table Tennis: Medal-favourite Will Bayley was one of four Britons to win Singles matches but Aaron McKibbin will not go through after losing two games on day one.
Wheelchair Basketball: A stirring fightback from Britain’s men was eventually thwarted by Germany, who led by 17 points in the first half but needed extra-time to win 77-72. It was a more difficult day for the women, who lost 60-35 to a strong Netherlands side.
For more news and pictures from London 2012, go to the ParalympicsGB website: www.paralympics.org.uk/gb
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