Summers-Newton sets Paralympic record as four British swimmers reach finals

Tokyo 2021

Maisie Summers-Newton set a Paralympic record as she qualified in style for the women’s 100m breaststroke SB6 final alongside Ellie Simmonds.

Elsewhere, Grace Harvey qualified fastest in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB5 heats while Zara Mullooly reached the final of the women’s 100m freestyle S10 on a productive morning in the pool for ParalympicsGB.

Summers-Newton put in a commanding performance, coming home in a time of 1:33.12, knocking over two seconds off the previous Paralympic record.

Her idol Simmonds, an eight-time Paralympic medallist, finished second behind her in heat 1 in a time of 1:39.95 to qualify fourth fastest for the final.

Summers-Newton with her gold medal from the women’s 200m individual medley SM6 won earlier in the week

Summers-Newton will go for her second gold of the Games, after winning the women’s 200m individual medley SM6 earlier this week, while Simmonds will aim to pick up a medal at a fourth consecutive Paralympics.

In the women’s 100m breaststroke SB5, Harvey will start in one of the two centre lanes in the final having qualified fastest overall.

Harvey won her heat in a time of 1:42.09 to finish ahead of Italy’s Arianna Talamona, with defending champion Yelyzaveta Mereshko of the Ukraine finishing almost a second behind Harvey’s time in the following heat.

Mullooly finished third in heat 2 of the women’s 100m freestyle S10 in a time of 1:02.18 to qualify seventh fastest for the final.

Zara Mullooly sets off on her quest for a Paralympic medal

Aurelie Rivard of Canada won Mullooly’s heat in a time of 58.60 seconds, breaking her own world and Paralympic records.

Meanwhile, Will Perry and Lyndon Longhorne failed to advance to their respective finals but both have chances of bringing home a medal later in the competition.

In the first event of the day, Perry finished seventh in his men’s 100m breaststroke SB6 heat in a time of 1:30.44 and the 21-year-old will also compete in the 100m freestyle on Tuesday.

In heat 1 of the men’s 150m individual medley SM4, Lyndon Longhorne ended in sixth and his time of 2:52.76 was not enough to qualify for the final.

Longhorne will compete in three more events in Tokyo – the 200m freestyle, 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke.

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