American swimmer Gia Pergolini secured the first gold medal for the U.S. at the Paris Paralympics by winning the women’s 100m backstroke S13. The 20-year-old from Atlanta triumphed with a lead of over two seconds, marking her second consecutive gold in this event at the Paralympics.
“I am just so happy to be here representing one of the greatest countries in the world,” Pergolini expressed. “Getting its first gold medal at the Paralympics is unreal. Especially after watching the Olympians dominate the Olympics, I wanted to do that here.”
Ellie Marks also made a significant impact, earning the United States’ first para swimming medal in Paris with a silver in the women’s 50m freestyle S6 on Thursday. She followed this up with another silver in the women’s 200m IM SM6 on Friday, finishing behind Great Britain’s Maisie Summers-Newton.
In a disappointing turn, world record holder Anastasia Pagonis placed fourth in the women’s 400m freestyle S11 final, finishing with a time of 5:05.31, which was over 10 seconds slower than her world record set during the Tokyo Paralympics.
Two records were broken in the pool on Friday. Ukraine’s Oleksandr Komarov set a new Paralympic record of 1:07.77 in the men’s 100m freestyle S5, narrowly defeating China’s Guo Jincheng in a thrilling finish.
The day concluded with China establishing a new world record in the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay, clocking in at 2:14.98. The U.S. relay team, finishing just four seconds behind, took home the silver medal, while Brazil claimed bronze. This silver also represented the first Paralympic medal for Abbas Karimi, who emigrated from Afghanistan to Turkey in 2013 before settling in the U.S. and becoming a citizen in 2022. Karimi is now celebrated as one of the newest Paralympic medalists for his adopted country.