Britain’s Dimitri Coutya wins Paralympic wheelchair fencing gold

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

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

Coutya ruled supreme, grabbing gold in the men’s category B with a fine 15-7 victory over two-time defending champion Feng Yanke to top 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 has been something I have dedicated my life to, especially in the last few years,” said Coutya, who won a silver and three bronzes at Tokyo 2020.

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

Wheelchair racer Sammi Kinghorn swiftly added to GB’s success with a stunning T53 100m gold at Stade de France.

Scottish athlete Kinghorn, who secured 800m and 1500m silvers in recent days, powered home ahead of Swiss star Catherine Debrunner to set a Paralympic record in 15.64 seconds.

The 28-year-old became 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 before dedicating the victory to her brother on his birthday.

“I just can’t believe that I’ve done that,” she said. “It’s honestly absolutely blowing my mind.

“This one is definitely for my brother.”

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

The 32-year-old – a two-time bronze medallist – needed to lift 109kg to claim second spot and initially seemed to have fouled, before making a successful appeal.

“I don’t really know how I’m feeling – good, happy, emotional, a bit of everything,” she said.

“Paris has been a great Paralympics, I’m glad to come away with this.”

Swimmers Poppy Maskill, Alice Tai and Rhys Darbey also delivered silvers.

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

Teammate Tai emulated that achievement with a swim of 4mins 52.24secs in the S8 400m freestyle, having won 100m backstroke gold and 200m individual medley bronze earlier in the Games.

Darbey, who was already a mixed 4x100m freestyle relay champion, claimed GB’s maiden podium place on Wednesday evening at La Defense Arena, finishing the men’s SM14 200m individual medley in 2mins 8.61secs.

Earlier, four-time Paralympic gold medallist Sophie Wells completed a hat-trick of British dressage bronzes at Chateau de Versailles.

The 34-year-old, riding LJT Egebjerggards Samoa, secured the final podium place in the grade five individual event with a score of 72.257.

Equestrian teammates Natasha Baker and Georgia Wilson finished third in grades three and two respectively on Tuesday.

Medals for the three British riders means they each qualify for Saturday’s individual freestyle competitions, in addition to compatriot Mari Durward-Akhurst, who finished sixth in grade one on Tuesday.

Wells, who changed horse following 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 needed to hold her hand around the test a little bit and give her a bit of confidence. I’m so proud she held her nerve.”

British shooter Tim Jeffery won his maiden Paralympic medal by taking bronze at Chateauroux.

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

Shooting was the only sport out of 19 entered in which ParalympicsGB 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.”