Tokyo Paralympics 2021: Rolling day one coverage of games, cycling, swimming events

Australia has not lost a single game of wheelchair rugby at the Paralympics since 2008, until now, with the defeat jolting their chances of winning gold.

TOKYO, JAPAN - AUGUST 25: William Martin of Australia is congratulated after winning the Men's 400m Freestyle - S9 final on day 1 of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at on August 25, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

Australia are the Paralympic kings of wheelchair rugby, but a shock loss to Denmark on Wednesday has jolted their chances of winning a third straight gold in the bone-juddering sport.

The Aussies, who had not lost a single game at the Paralympics since 2008, were stunned 54-53 by the debutant Danes in their tournament opener.

Only two teams from each of the two round-robin groups progress to the semi-finals, putting Australia’s backs to the wall for their remaining matches against France and world champions Japan.

“I’m pretty devastated, to be honest — I had never lost a game at the Paralympics ever,” said Australia’s Chris Bond.

“I don’t know what to feel. All we can do is turn around and win the next two and make the semi-final.”

Australia's Chris Bond (L) and Denmark's Mark Ingemann Peters. Picture: AFP

Australia are the world’s top-ranked team in wheelchair rugby — originally known as “murderball” and famous for its high-impact, wince-inducing collisions.

They won gold at the 2016 Rio Games in dramatic fashion, edging the United States 59-58 after double overtime, in what is widely considered to be the best wheelchair rugby game ever.

They are led at the Tokyo Games by captain Ryley Batt, a ferocious competitor who is appearing at his fifth Paralympics and is known as the world’s best player.

But the 32-year-old admitted he was off the pace against the Danes, with the Australians playing their first game in two years because of pandemic difficulties.

“You train as hard as you want at home, work hard every day as an individual, but coming together as a team is a different thing,” said Batt.

“Working in pressure situations like that is totally different.” Batt was born with no legs, and underwent an operation to separate his fingers. He says his father — who competed in Ironman events — encouraged him to fend for himself by making him crawl across the sand to get to the sea when they visited the beach.

He believes his parents’ tough love helped mould him into the player he is today, and the Danish players got a close-up look at his fearsome talents.

FIRST GOLD MEDAL IN THE POOL

Will Martin has won Australia’s first gold medal in swimming at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Better known as a butterfly swimmer, Martin won the men’s S9 400m freestyle gold in 4:10.25, just 0.32 outside of Brenden Hall’s world record.

Hall finished fourth, just missing out on a medal, but Australia did collect a second medal when teenager Alexander Tuckfield touched the wall third to get the bronze.

Emily Petricola and Paige Greco grabbed gold at the velodrome.

GOLDS NOT AS EASY AS THEY LOOKED

They just made it all look so easy as they scooped up Australia’s first two gold medals at the Tokyo Paralympics, but nothing could have been further from the truth for our new track cycling stars, Emily Petricola and Paige Greco.

Petricola was so dominant that she lapped her opponent in the gold medal race with three laps still to go to win the C4 3,000m individual pursuit, just 15 minutes after her team mate, Greco, obliterated her own world record to win the C3 classification.

They were both so good that it almost looked like they were going on a weekend excursion, but behind the scenes, staff were working overtime to get them ready for the ride of their lives.

Petricola, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 13 years ago, almost missed the final when her body started playing up after the heats, revealing that was only the intervention of team physio Keren Faulkner that got her to the start line.

“Physically, I had some issues between the races that was going on,” Petricola said.

“Some of the muscles in my body weren‘t very co-operative, so Keren had to step in and sort of help me settle that down so that I could pull up OK for the final and do the recovery as it was.”

“I also had some mental challenges, so there was a fair bit going on in the background today.

VELODROME AND SWIMMING HEATS

Australia has made a sensational start to the Tokyo Paralympics by smashing two world records during the morning heats to guarantee at least two medals on the first day of competition but with the likelihood of many more.

In a sensational performance at the Izu Peninsula Velodrome, Aussie track cyclists Paige Greco and Emily Petricola both smashed the world records for their events during the heats.

Both are now guaranteed of getting on the podium later today after advancing to their respective gold medal races this afternoon.

Greco won her heat in the women’s C3 individual 3,000m pursuit in a time of 3:52.283 - wiping almost eight seconds off the world record she set at the 2019 world championships.

The 24-year-old will take on China’s Xiaomei Wang, who also broke the world record but was still 3.5 seconds behind the Aussie, for the gold medal with the loser to get the silver.

“I probably doubted myself a few times, but my coach and the staff, they really believed in me,” Greco said.

Petricola hacked almost six seconds off the C4 world record she set in 2020 when she was timed at 3:38.01 - almost nine seconds faster than her opponent in the final, American Shawn Morelli.

Australia’s Meg Lemon is through to the C4 bronze medal individual pursuit race, where she will take on Canada’s Keely Shaw.

Ellie Cole finished first in her 400m free heat. Picture: Adam Pretty/Getty

Australian swim star Rowan Crothers came within a heartbeat of breaking a world record at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre after putting himself in a pole position to win gold on the opening day of competition.

Racing in the men’s 50m freestyle S10 category, Crothers won his heat in a slick 23.25 seconds - just 0.09 outside the world record of 23.16 set by Brazilian Andre Brasil at the 2012 London Paralympics.

Crothers easily qualified fastest for Wednesday night’s final, stopping the clock a third of a second quicker than his nearest rival.

Tom Gallagher qualified fifth in 24.29 as a staggering 13 Aussie swimmers made it through to first night finals, including Ben Popham, who was more than a half a second clear of his nearest rival in the men’s S8 100m event and tipped to win gold.

Australia even qualified three competitors for one event - the men’s S9 400m freestyle final.

Alexander Tuckfield, 16, set the fastest heat time of 4:14.26 while William Martin was fourth quickest and world record holder Brenden Hall fifth.

“I’d say all three of us can definitely be on that podium. It’s just a matter of who gets that first, second and third,” Tuckfield said.

“I’ll do all my recovery and make sure I get in the ice bath – although it’s cold it works wonders. And make sure I recover for the big dogfight tonight.”

Ellie Cole and Lakeisha Patterson both cruised into the women’s S9 400m freestyle final, finishing first and second in their heat to qualify third and fourth quickest.

Ben Hance qualified fourth fastest for the men’s S14 100m butterfly final with his teammate Ricky Betar advancing in sixth place.

Two Australians qualified in the women’s S14 100m butterfly with Paige Leonhardt second overall and Ruby Storm sixth while Ahmed Kelly scraped into the final of the men’s SB3 50m breaststroke event in eighth spot.

Originally published as Tokyo Paralympics 2021: Rolling day one coverage of games, cycling, swimming events