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Britain’s Dimitri Coutya wins Paralympic gold in wheelchair fencing
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Britain’s Dimitri Coutya wins Paralympic gold in wheelchair fencing

Britain’s Dimitri Coutya was crowned Paralympic foil champion as wheelchair fencing attracted a royal crowd in Paris.

The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were interested spectators at the Grand Palais on the seventh day of the Games in the French capital.

Coutya was the absolute winner and took gold in the category B for men with a great 15-7 victory over the two-time reigning champion Feng Yanke. With that he stood on top of the podium for the first time.

Prince Edward – a patron of the British Paralympic Association – and Sophie sat alongside British Ambassador to France Menna Rawlings and ParalympicsGB chief executive David Clarke to cheer on the British team.

“It’s something I’ve dedicated my life to, especially the last few years,” said Coutya, who won silver and three bronze medals at Tokyo 2020.

“I really wanted that gold medal. There was a lot of emotional turmoil that went into it.”

Wheelchair racer Sammi Kinghorn quickly extended Britain’s success with a stunning T53 gold in the 100m at Stade de France.

Scottish athlete Kinghorn, who won silver in the 800 and 1500 metres in recent days, stayed ahead of Swiss star Catherine Debrunner to set a Paralympic record in 15.64 seconds.

The 28-year-old is the first non-Chinese athlete to win the title since Tanni Grey-Thompson 20 years ago in Athens.

Tears of joy streamed from her eyes as she greeted her family in the stands and then dedicated the victory to her brother on his birthday.

“I just can’t believe I did that,” she said. “It’s really mind-boggling.

“This one is definitely for my brother.”

Meanwhile, powerlifter Zoe Newson convincingly won silver in the women’s 45kg final.

The 32-year-old – a two-time bronze medallist – had to lift 109kg to take second place and initially appeared to have committed a violation before successfully appealing.

“I don’t really know how I feel — good, happy, emotional, a little bit of everything,” she said.

“Paris was a great Paralympic Games, I’m glad I experienced it.”

Swimmers Poppy Maskill, Alice Tai and Rhys Darbey also won silver.

Maskill took her medal tally in France to four with a second place in the women’s 200m individual medley in the SM14 in a time of two minutes, 23.93 seconds.

Teammate Tai matched that performance with a swim of 4 minutes and 52.24 seconds in the 400m freestyle (S8). Earlier at the Games he had already won gold in the 100m backstroke and bronze in the 200m individual medley.

Darbey, who was already mixed champion in the 4x100m freestyle relay, took Britain’s first podium finish on Wednesday evening at the La Defense Arena by completing the men’s 200m medley SM14 in a time of 2:8:61.

Earlier, four-time Paralympic gold medallist Sophie Wells achieved a hat-trick of bronze medals in British dressage at the Palace of Versailles.

The 34-year-old rider, who rides LJT Egebjerggards Samoa, took the final podium place in the individual class five with a score of 72.257.

Their horse teammates Natasha Baker and Georgia Wilson finished third in the third and second classes respectively on Tuesday.

The medals for the three British riders mean they each qualify for the individual freestyle events on Saturday, alongside compatriot Mari Durward-Akhurst, who finished sixth in class one on Tuesday.

Wells, who changed horses after the late withdrawal of Don Cara M, said: “She (LJT Egebjerggards Samoa) is an incredible horse, she will be the best horse in the world at some point.

“I had to hold her hand during the test and give her some confidence. I am so proud of how she held her nerve.”

British shooter Tim Jeffery won his first Paralympic medal by taking bronze in Chateauroux.

The 28-year-old – competing in his third consecutive Games – scored 227.8 in the R9 mixed 50m rifle prone SH2.

Shooting was the only sport of the 19 ParalympicsGB competitors that failed to win a medal at Tokyo 2020.

“The final was one of the hardest things I’ve done in a long time,” said Jeffery

“Hopefully this medal is the first of many.”