Sophie Pascoe has completely dominated the Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM10 final in Rio de Janeiro today, powering away from her rivals within meters of the starting block as she laid down an unbeatable butterfly leg. She kept her form throughout backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle to beat her own WORLD RECORD from the London 2012 Paralympic Games by over half a second in time of 2:24.90. Pascoe took the Gold over 6 seconds ahead of silver medallist, Aurelie Rivard (Canada), in 2:30.03, with Bianka Pap in Bronze position at 2:31.46. Pascoe went into tonight’s final with the fastest qualifying time (2:27.44), over 5 seconds faster than her nearest rival Aurelie Rivard (Canada).
This is Pascoe’s third medal of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, after winning GOLD yesterday in the Women’s 100m Backstroke S10 and SILVER the day before in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S10 after posting a personal best time. Pascoe now has a total of 13 Paralympic medals to her name, including the honor of collecting New Zealand’s 200th Paralympic medal with her silver just two days ago.
Sophie Pascoe is one of New Zealand’s most recognisable athletes. She exploded onto the world stage at just 15-years-of-age, securing two Gold and a Silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. Four years later, she won three Gold and three Silver medals at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, cementing herself as one of the most successful Paralympians that New Zealand has ever produced. The 23-year-old comes into the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in dominant form, after winning three Gold, a Silver and two Bronze at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championship. On her first outing at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, she won SILVER in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S10 and on her second outing a day later, she won a GOLD in the Women’s 100m Backstroke S10.
Find Sophie Pascoe’s biography here on this link.
The 31-strong New Zealand Paralympic Games Team will compete at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games between 8-19 September 2016 NZT, with a mighty global contingent of 4,350 other athletes from 160 countries. The Paralympics is the world’s largest multi-sport event for disabled athletes. New Zealand will contest six Para-Sports, chasing a target of 18 medals in total, including 12 gold medals.
Where can kiwis watch our Paralympians in action?
Views can catch the New Zealand Paralympic Team in action at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games by tuning into DUKE on Freeview 13, Sky 23 or online at www.tvnz.co.nz/duke (find daily schedule here: www.tvnz.co.nz/paralympics2016/schedule), by watching the daily highlights programme on TV1 at 9.30pm, or by visiting www.tvnz.co.nz/ondemand/paralympics to watch on demand. Results will also be shown on ONE News, Breakfast and Seven Sharp. Additionally, coverage can be found by visiting the Paralympics website: www.paralympic.org.
