Ntando Mahlangu broke the world record with a final leap of 7.17m to win gold in the men’s T63 long jump, a matter of minutes after Anrune Weyers had sped to the women’s T47 400m gold in 56.05sec.
This put Team SA on the medals table at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, with two golds at the Tokyo Stadium.
Earlier, there were two swimmers involved in morning action, Kat Swanepoel and Hendrik van der Merwe. Both missed out on a place in the evening final, but Swanepoel will have been most pleased with her effort.
Swimming in the women’s 150 individual medley (SM4), she took nine seconds off her entry time from Durban in April, when she touched the wall in 3min 21.19sec. Swanepoel had turned in second position in her heat after the backstroke leg, slipped to fifth after the backstroke, but fought back on the freestyle lap to finish fourth in her heat and 11th overall.
Van der Merwe finished fifth in his heat and missed out on the evening final, although in his heat the Paralympic record fell to Spain’s world- record holder and gold-medal favourite Antoni Ponce Bertran.
The silver medallist in the men’s 100m (T38) at London 2012, and fourth-place in the event at the 2016 Games in Rio, Dyan Buis, could only manage fifth place in his morning heat in 11.75 and will have been disappointed to miss out on spot in the evening’s final.
There was also archery action where Philip Coates-Palgrave was impressive in winning his 1/32 encounter, but he fell off the standard he set there in his 1/16 match where he was beaten.
Leon Els, who had won a marathon three-setter that finished after midnight, was back only hours later, but lost to No5 seed Gordon Reid of Great Britain, 6-2, 6-0, in the second round the wheelchair tennis men’s singles.
HOW TEAM SA FARED ON SATURDAY
ARCHERY
Men’s Individual Compound (Open, W2) 1/32 elimination round: Philip Coates-Palgrave beat Brazil’s Andre De Casto 142-135
Men’s Individual Compound (Open, W2) 1/16 elimination round: Philip Coates-Palgrave lost to Iran’s Alisina Manshaezadeh 143-130
ATHLETICS
Men’s 100m (T38), heat: Dyan Buis finished fifth in his heat in 11.75sec to place 10th overall and he missed out on a spot in the final
Men’s Long Jump (T63), final: Ntando Mahlangu broke the T61 world record with an opening leap of 7.02m and then took gold with a final jump of 7.17m with another world record. 16-year-old Michael Mabote had a PB 5.18m with his third jump to finish in 9th position
Women’s 400m (T47), final: Anrune Weyers, the world-record holder and world champion proved her gold-medal favourite status with victory in 56.05sec
SWIMMING
Women’s 150m IM (SM4), heats: Kat Swanepoel finished fourth in her heat in 3:21.19 and placed 11th on the overall list of qualifiers. It was 9sec faster than her entry time set in April
Men’s 100m breaststroke (SB5), heats: Hendrik van der Merwe finished fifth in his heat in 1:46.22, to place 9th overall and miss out on a spot in the final
WHEELCHAIR TENNIS
Men’s singles, second round: Leon Els lost to No 5 seed Gordon Reid of Great Britain, 6-2, 6-0
Women’s singles, first round: Mariska Venter lost to No 5 seed Momoko Ohtani of Japan, 6-1, 6-2
WHEELCHAIR TENNIS
Women’s singles, first round: No 6 seed Kgothatso Montjane beat Saki Takamuro, of Japan, 6-2, 6-1 to move into the second round
Men’s doubles, first round: Leon Els and Evans Maripa vs Casey Ratzlaff and Connor Stroud (USA)
Photo: Dyan Buis by Roger Sedres