Shaw and Graham miss out on medals

Aberdeen swimmer Toni Shaw and Strathpeffer cyclist Fin Graham were both left disappointed after narrowly missing out on their second medals of the Paralympics.

Shaw finished fourth in the S9 100m freestyle in Tokyo, while Graham was a whisker away from winning a medal in the men’s C3 time trial.

Shaw, 18, took bronze in last week’s 400m freestyle event, however, she was beaten by New Zealand’s Sophie Pascoe (1:02.37), Spain’s Sarai Gascon (1:02.77) and Brazil’s Mariana Ribeiro (1:03.39) in yesterday’s final.

University of Aberdeen Performance Swim Team athlete Shaw is the British record holder in the 100m free, having previously swam 1:03.00 when winning bronze at the 2019 World Para-swimming Championships, but she could only manage 1:03.49 in Japan.

Shaw swam 1:03.59 in her heat earlier in the day to finish second behind Ribeiro, with her fellow medal-winners Pascoe and Gascon victorious in the other two qualifiers.

After the final, Shaw – who will close out her debut Paralympics in tomorrow’s S9 100m butterfly – said: “Nobody likes to come fourth, but it’s such a competitive race.

“To make it through to the final and come fourth, I’m still really happy, but a bit disappointed – it is what it is.

“It was quite a good time. I’ve been mostly training for the 400m, so knew after that it was going to be difficult going down to a sprint event. It was OK.”

After winning silver in the 3,000m individual pursuit last week, 21-yearold Graham finished fourth in the men’s C3 event, missing out on a place on the podium by only three seconds.

Top spot went to GB’s Ben Watson, 32, on his Paralympic debut, surging to victory by more than 56 seconds, with three-time Tokyo medallist Jaco van Gass finishing sixth.

Watson said: “I don’t really believe it, I’ve actually never won a time trial at a World Cup or World Championship, I’ve always been the bridesmaid so it’s good on the big one to win it.”

The GB cyclists have now all won medals at the games as Graham’s sparkling silver has been added to in some style.

George Peasgood won men’s C4 time trial bronze, which adds to the silver he clinched in the triathlon earlier in the games.

Lora Fachie and pilot Corrine Hall, who had already won pursuit gold, sealed a silver in the women’s B time trial, while Sarah Storey became Great Britain’s joint most successful Paralympian of all time after winning her 16th gold in the women’s C5 time trial.

Crystal Lane-Wright was 92 seconds behind Storey to take silver for her second medal in Tokyo.