Pascoe continues medal quest

She offered her rivals a glimmer of hope earlier in the week at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. But last night Sophie Pascoe slammed the door shut in her favourite event as she bagged an 11th Paralympic gold medal.

Pascoe powered clear over the first three lengths, then clung on to win the women’s

200m individual medley SM9 title, making it successive gold medals in the pool in 24 hours and a fourth straight

200 IM title stretching back to her debut in Beijing as a 15-year-old in 2008.

The Kiwi swim star had 3.54sec to spare at the final turn and looked set for a comfortable victory before fading in the final

10m of the freestyle leg, holding off a desperate late lunge from Hungary’s Zsofia Konkoly. Pascoe’s time of 2min 32.73sec gave her victory by 0.27sec.

But it was enough, as an exhausted, elated Pascoe held up four fingers in the pool for all her medley golds.

Pascoe’s 11th gold, and 19th medal in all, boosted New Zealand’s tally to nine at these Paralympics. And there’s one more to come today as Pascoe looks to hit 20 and add to her two golds, silver and bronze from the past week in the 100m butterfly S9.

A sobbing Pascoe was devastated on Monday night when she faded to third in the 100m backstroke, realising her best effort wasn’t good enough to challenge for victory. But after some calming words from her coach Roly Crichton, still at home in Christchurch due to ill health, Pascoe hauled herself up to win her first gold of the meet in the 100m freestyle S9.

Her confidence restored, tears of joy flowing, she fixed her steely gaze on the 200 IM.

Right from the morning heats there was little to concern Pascoe or her many fans.

She cruised effortlessly to victory in heat three, 5.33sec clear of her rivals, in a time of 2:34.55 which was fastest overall by

0.61sec, with Konkoly her nearest challenger.

Earlier, Rio double medallist from 2016, Nikita Howarth, finished fourth in the 100m breaststroke SB7 final in a time of

1:36.65. She was 1.63sec behind bronze medallist Tiffany Thomas Kane of Australia.

Another New Zealand finalist, Jesse Reynolds, was seventh in the men’s 200 IM SM9 final in a time of 2:25.62, about 8sec off a bronze medal.

GETTY IMAGES Sophie Pascoe is all power and concentration during the 200m individual medley SM9 in Tokyo yesterday. Inset left, an exhausted Pascoe reflects on her win, the 11th gold of her outstanding Paralympic career.