TOKYO — In their first Paralympic debut, Anastasia Pagonis (Long Island, New York) and Gia Pergolini (Atlanta, Georgia) collected Team USA’s first gold medals from inside the Tokyo Aquatic Center with a pair of world record performances on the second day of competition at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Pagonis, who set a Paralympic record
earlier in the day, was the lone racer to break the 5-minute barrier during the
women’s 400m freestyle S11. The 17-year-old led the race from start to finish
with her closest competitor touching the wall more than 10 seconds behind her
4:54.49 world record time.
Teammate McClain Hermes (Dacula, Georgia),
swimming in her second Paralympic Games, finished sixth in 5:29.24 and dropped
10 seconds from her morning qualifying time.
Pergolini, with a world record
already in hand from the morning session, watched Pagonis’ celebration from
inside the ready room prior to her women’s 100m backstroke S13 final. The high
schooler used that as motivation to lower her record by .5 seconds to 1:04.64
to give the Paralympic village roommates a pair of records and gold medals to
take back with them.
Three-time Para swimming veteran,
Colleen Young (St. Louis, Missouri), finished eighth with a 1:09.89.
Elizabeth Marks (Colorado Springs,
Colorado), a newly minted three-time Paralympic medalist, was the top U.S.
finisher in the women’s 200m individual medley SM6 by finishing fourth clocking
in at 3:02.42. Her teammate and another three-time Paralympian, Sophia Herzog
(Fairplay, Colorado), touched the wall in 3:07.98 for seventh place.
Additional U.S. swimmers that
competed during the evening session were Zach Shattuck (Mt. Airy, Maryland) and
Mikaela Jenkins (Evansville, Indiana). Shattuck, swimming in his first
Paralympics finals, went 2:52.52 and placed eighth in the men’s 200m individual
medley SM6. Jenkins, also swimming in her first Paralympics, finished in
1:23.89 for the eighth-fastest time in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB9.
Other Team USA performances from the
day include Summer Schmit’s (Stillwater, Minnesota) 1:25.91 for a 10-place
finish in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB9. Hannah Aspden (Raleigh, N.C.) and
MeiMei White (Orlando, Florida) stopped the clock at 1:32.40 and 1:32.84,
respectively, in the women's 100-meter breaststroke SB8 and finished eleventh
and twelfth respectively.
The third full day of racing
continues tomorrow. Preliminary heats are scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. EST and
finals at 4 a.m. EST. All races will be live streamed through NBCOlympics.com,
on Peacock and through the NBC Sports app. A full schedule of events is
available here.
TEAM USA MEDALS (Day 2)
Gold:
- Anastasia Pagonis (women’s 400m
freestyle S11)
- Gia Pergolini (women’s 100m
backstroke S13)
QUOTES
Anastasia Pagonis
If you told me this a few years ago,
I wouldn’t even think I’d be alive so just being here and being able to have
this experience and this opportunity - unbelievable. I love being able to bond
with my teammates and have this experience with all of them. I think supporting
and cheering on my teammates is super important.
Gia Pergolini
It’s surreal. I’ve been thinking
about this moment for the past five years. This past year, I was thinking about
it day and night. There are so many emotions finally seeing all my hard work
pay off. Representing my country and getting them a gold medal is just crazy.
Elizabeth Marks
Yesterday’s race was just as much fun
as today’s race. I had a really nice swim earlier in the morning, and I’m happy
that I was able to swim tonight for Team USA.
FULL RESULTS
For full results from Tokyo 2020,
please visit Paralympic.org.
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