Bronze Medal Alert - Nikita Howarth in the Women's 50m Butterfly S7
21 September 2016, 10:39AM
Paralympics New Zealand
Paralympian Nikita Howarth finished off “Mega Monday” for New Zealand in Rio on September 12, winning a BRONZE medal in the Women's 50m Butterfly S7 in a time of 35.97, five tenths of a second behind silver medallist Courtney Jordan and nine tenths behind Susannah Rodgers with gold.
Howarth had qualified in a time of 35.40 to enter the final as the fastest, but could not replicate this.
The bronze takes New Zealand’s medal tally to a spectacular 4 on September 12, with 13 won in total now – 7 GOLD, 3 SILVER and 3 BRONZE. The team is determinedly chasing a total of 18 medals, 12 gold.
The first GOLD came at around 9am NZT, with Para-Swimmer Cameron Leslie completely smashing his own World Record by more than 2 seconds to win gold in the Men’s 150m Individual Medley SM4 Final. Leslie has held the title, and the gold, in this event since the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
At around 9.45am NZT, Sophie Pascoe won GOLD in the Women's 100m Butterfly S10, officially becoming New Zealand’s most successful Paralympian of all time. Pascoe has now matched New Zealand Paralympian Eve Rimmer’s record of 14 Paralympic medals, however by taking gold on September 12, Pascoe edged ahead of Rimmer in the standings, with a total of 9 gold, 5 silver and 0 bronze compared to Rimmer’s 8 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze. Pascoe has won three gold medals back-to-back and swam to a silver medal with a personal best on the first day of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. She also – quite fittingly – collected the honour of winning New Zealand’s 200th Paralympic medal.
By 10.30am, Liam Malone had made New Zealand sporting history by becoming the first kiwi to win the Men’s 200m T44 GOLD medal. The blade runner won ahead of the pre-Paralympic favourites from the USA and Germany, powering across the line to set a new Paralympic Record. This gold will augment a Paralympic collection that Malone started earlier this week, winning a surprise silver medal in the Men’s 100m T44 on day two in Rio when he accelerated at a phenomenal pace through in the last 30 metres from 5th to take 2nd. Malone got his first set of blades just three years ago, following the support of the New Zealand public, who donated to a crowd funding site to the tune of $20,000.
Paralympian Mary Fisher also had a great night in the pool, but could not deliver a medal finishing 6th in the Women's 50m Freestyle S11. All 6 of the top finishers touched the wall within 1 sec of each other, after a brutal race. Fisher qualified third fastest for the final in a heat time of 31.35.
Nikita Howarth - came to attention at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, becoming New Zealand’s youngest Paralympian at just 13 – finishing 6th, 9th and 11th despite her age. Since then, Howarth has come into her own, winning two gold medals at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships. She is currently ranked 1st, 1st, 3rd and 8th in her four events.
Find Nikita Howarth’s biography here.
The 31-strong New Zealand Paralympic Games Team will compete at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games between 8-19 September 2016 NZT, with a mighty global contingent of 4,350 other athletes from 160 countries. The Paralympics is the world’s largest multi-sport event for disabled athletes. New Zealand will contest six Para-Sports, chasing a target of 18 medals in total, including 12 gold medals.
Where can kiwis watch our Paralympians in action?
Views can catch the New Zealand Paralympic Team in action at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games by tuning into DUKE on Freeview 13, Sky 23 or online at www.tvnz.co.nz/duke (find daily schedule here: www.tvnz.co.nz/paralympics2016/schedule), by watching the daily highlights programme on TV1 at 9.30pm, or by visiting www.tvnz.co.nz/ondemand/paralympics or http://attitudelive.com/rio-2016-paralympics to watch on demand. Results will also be shown on ONE News, Breakfast and Seven Sharp. Additionally, coverage can be found by visiting the Paralympics website: www.paralympic.org.
In addition to this and as a result of huge public interest in New Zealand TVNZ has created a second live stream so you can choose between the coverage of DUKE or live Para-Swimming or Para-Athletics action:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/ondemand/paralympics-swimming AND
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/ondemand/paralympics-athletics