Daniel Pembroke set a new Paralympic record to win gold in the F13 javelin final after a delayed start due to torrential rain in Tokyo while Dan Greaves became the first Paralympian to win an athletics medal for Britain in six consecutive Games after bronze in the F64 discus final.

Pembroke’s throw of 69.52m in the third round of the javelin competition was nearly four metres further than the record as the 30-year-old secured ParalympicsGB’s first medal in the men’s F13 event.

Related: Sarah Storey: the one-woman gold medal factory still in full production

“It is the best day of my life. It is an amazing experience and I can’t put it into words, I know everyone says that but it is true,” he said.

Three-times world champion Greaves, who won his first medal at Sydney 2000, secured bronze with a best throw of 53.56 metres. That effort was 38cm ahead of USA’s David Blair and though disappointed with the distance, Greaves was delighted at overcoming five difficult years of injury to reach the podium once more at the age of 38.

Greaves, who now has one gold, two silvers and three bronze from his six Games to surpass the record of Tanni Grey-Thompson, said: “I thought I had maybe had my day but it is nice to walk away with a medal from another Games.

“I have been through some tough times and it is really hard to describe the dark moments. I want to be able to play with my kids and do everything a dad should, so I took six months off in 2019. My body is now able to cope with the load it is given and I have fallen back in love with it.”

Meanwhile, Sammi Kinghorn won silver in the T53 400m for her second medal of the Games, backing up the bronze won in the T53 100m 24 hours previously.

The 25-year-old finished in 57.25sec pipping China’s Hongzhuan Zhou by 0.04sec, with Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner taking gold.

Meanwhile, in the wheelchair tennis events, Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett suffered last-four defeats in Tokyo to end hopes of a repeat of Rio’s all-British final.

The defending champion Reid lost 6-3, 6-2 to the world No 1 and home favourite, Shingo Kunieda, before 2016 silver medallist Hewett was beaten 6-4, 7-6 (5) by Holland’s Tom Egberink.

The British pair will play each other for bronze on Saturday at Ariake Tennis Centre but before then they will join forces in the men’s doubles final on Friday, looking to go one better than the silver they won together in Brazil. As in Rio, they face Stéphane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer from France.

Britain’s Jordanne Whiley lost 6-4, 6-2 to Dutch top seed Diede de Groot in her women’s semi-final and will play Aniek van Koot on Saturday in the bronze medal match. However, that day she will also play for gold alongside Lucy Shuker after the duo beat Chinese duo Wang Ziying and Zhu Zhenzhen 6-4, 6-2 in their semi-final. The final will pit them against top seeds De Groot and Van Koot.