Robinson celebrates birthday by reaching butterfly final in the pool

Birthday girl Ellie Robinson led the morning charge on day six in the swimming pool, as four ParalympicsGB athletes qualified for their respective finals later on Monday.

Robinson, who turns 20 today, will defend her women’s 50m butterfly S6 title after finishing second in her heat in 37.24 seconds.

That was 0.40 seconds behind heat winner Elizabeth Marks (USA), while China’s Jiang Yuyan broke her own world record with a time of 34.56s in the following heat, as the Brit was the fourth-fastest qualifier.

However, compatriot Grace Harvey – who won a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke SB5 earlier this week – came sixth in Robinson’s heat in a time of 41.18s, which wasn’t enough to make the final.

Ellie Challis, the youngest member of the ParalympicsGB team in Tokyo, will also be bidding for a medal when she goes in the 100m freestyle S3.

The 17-year-old Challis, who won a silver in the 50m backstroke S3 yesterday, also qualified second from her heat, in 1:53.63, and fourth fastest overall.

Elsewhere, 10-time Paralympic medallist Stephanie Millward will hope to win her first of the Tokyo Games in the women’s 100m backstroke S9.

The 39-year-old, who won two golds in Rio, will line up in lane eight after qualifying eighth fastest in 1:15.13.

Andrew Mullen will start in lane one in the men’s 50m backstroke S5 final after he came home fourth in his heat in 37.99s but Lyndon Longhorne narrowly missed out on the men’s 200m freestyle S4 final after posting the ninth-fastest qualifying time.