Kearney and Maskill deliver glorious golds

Tully Kearney might have had a difficult journey to Paris 2024 but she was rewarded with a glittering gold as ParalympicsGB celebrated a magical night in the pool.

The 27-year-old thought her Paralympic dreams were over after suffering a head injury last year that affected her memory and left her contemplating her future in the sport.

Vertigo kept her out the pool while she was then hit with the news she’d be reclassified for these Games.

But Kearney is nothing if not motivated by a seemingly insurmountable challenge. She won an appeal against that ruling and then scooped S5 200m freestyle gold.

She needed to fight all the way in a stroke-for-stroke head-to-head tussle with Ukraine’s Irina Poida.

Poida took the early advantage - noteworthy ahead of Kearney’s 100m title defence - but Kearney slowly hunted down her rival to finish just over a half a second ahead in 2:46.50 to upgrade her Tokyo silver in the event.

“It’s been a lot to cope with,” she admitted. “It was really hard with the concussion and then the last three or four months it’s been hard with the mental health issues.

“To be able to get here means a lot to me. Even a few weeks ago we weren’t sure if I was going to come out and compete or how many events I would do.

“I wanted redemption and I’m just absolutely ecstatic and a bit speechless.

“I don’t think anything could stop me from winning gold, it would have to be really bad to.”

“To be able to get here means a lot to me. Even a few weeks ago we weren’t sure if I was going to come out and compete or how many events I would do.

“I wanted redemption and I’m just absolutely ecstatic and a bit speechless. When I got in that pool, I didn’t think anything could stop me.”

Kearney followed teenager Poppy Maskill onto the podium after she claimed ParalympicsGB’s first gold of the Games with a world record in the S14 100m butterfly.

Maskill, just 19, collects Crocs - boasting 20 pairs at home - but on this evidence it won’t be long until she has as many medals to match, with her signature events to come.

Maskill qualified fastest from the morning’s heats but delivering in the final is a whole different ball-game.

But she reached the 50m mark half a second clear then finished strongly set a new record, jointly held by her team-mate Olivia Newman-Baronius and Russian athlete Valeriia Shabalina, who is representing the Neutral Paralympic Athletic team in Paris.

“It’s unreal and it feels weird to be the team’s first gold medallist,” she said, after clocking 1:03.00 to erase team-mate Newman-Baronius’s world best.

“I just wanted to swim my hardest and see what happens. I’ve worked hard in training and listened to what everyone tells me to do.

“This gives me so much confidence.”

Elsewhere, William Ellard won silver in the men’s S14 100m butterfly final.

Ellard, just 18, only started competitive swimming two years ago but has already become a force to be reckoned with.

And his best event, he’s a joint world record holder over double the distance, is still to come this weekend.

Ellard touched the wall at 50 metres with a narrow lead over his rivals but Denmark’s Alexander Hillhouse chased him down in the closing metres to clock a 54.61 second Paralympic record. Ellard was just fractions behind in 54.86 secs.

“I didn’t think I’d be happy with a silver medal but I’m a really good friend with Alexander and I’m delighted for him,” he said.

“I felt myself tiring up in the last 25 metres and I knew he was coming for me, he’s very strong at the end of the race.”