Tokyo Paralympics 2020 day five: triathlon, rowing, swimming, wheelchair rugby and more – live! | Sport

The first rowing medals in these games are won. Birgit Skarstein gets the gold in the women’s PR1 single sculls, an absolute mile (or 21 seconds) ahead of Israel’s Moran Samuel, and 31 seconds ahead of France’s Nathalie Benoit. That’s some kind of dominance. Skarstein was fourth in Rio, and has apparently done nothing but row like some Norse god of the oars ever since.

First gold of the Games for Norway, which until now had one bronze medal in table tennis.

Archery: Ireland’s Kerri-Louise Leonard has won through her 1/16 elimination round against Jyoti Jyoti of India, in the women’s individual compound.

Wheelchair basketball: Great Britain take care of Iran in the men’s match, 54-69.

Discus: In the women’s F34 event, Australia’s Sarah Edmiston has thrown her way into a bronze medal position so far, improving with each of her first three throws to sit at 37.41. I think that’s a PB as well.

Mind you, you get a sense of the gulf to the very top when Yao Juan steps up with a spin of what looks like minimal effort, and casually Frisbees the discus 44.4 metres.

Yang Yue has 40.48. Another gold-silver combo looking locked on for China.

Long jump: What an extraordinary achievement. Gold in Beijing, gold in London, gold in Rio, gold in Tokyo. Four times winning her event over the course of 13 years, the last of them coming at 40 years of age. One of the grandest records on the track or in the field.

Martinez misfires on her last jump, unable to do much more but run through after her sprinting approach. Then she immediately dissolves into tears – of joy, apparently – at having won a silver medal.

Zubkovska does line up for a final jump, then with true show style, walks down to the sandpit and steps dramatically into it. Quite the touch. She knows she’s won. Rather than tears, she’s now down there working the lanes like a Saturday Night Live host, chatting to people over the fence, shouting one-liners, looking calm and confident rather than overcome.

The bronze goes to Lynda Hamri of Algeria, who jumped 5.33m.

800m T53: Australian fave Madison de Rozario qualifies first in her heat, four seconds outside her world record time.

Table tennis: Cau and Baus are locked at two sets apiece in that first table tennis final that we mentioned earlier. “Down to the wire” klaxon.

Long jump. Sara Martinez has used up five of her jumps now, but none have surpassed her second effort of 5.38. That leaves her 6cm behind Zubkovska, who has declined to jump on her last two opportunities. Come and get me, she’s saying.

The women’s 100m T34 sees another champion performance. The Great Britain wheelchair racer won the 100m and 200m in London, the 100m, 400m, and 800m in Rio, and now the 100m here in Tokyo. Takes 0.18s off her own world record from earlier in the year, finishing in 16.39.

Her compatriot Kare Adenegan challenged her up to about the 70 metre mark but Cockroft just shot away from that point on, too much power. Silver for Great Britain there, with the third British racer Fabienne Andre finishing fifth.

And bronze for Australia with Robyn Lambird coming in third.

Table tennis: There will be more medals for China coming today, I would suggest. Eight gold-medal matches across categories. China has a contestant in six of those matches, and both contestants in two of them. The first has begun, the Class 5 with Cao Ningning and Germany’s Valentin Baus.

Long jump: Japan’s Sawada Uran improves on her mark, jumping 5.15m. Stays in fifth place but that’s her season best.

China is absolutely dominating, with a few that might not even have been added to our interactive yet. 30 gold and 77 total so far. Great Britain second with 17 gold and 46 total.

The plucky Aussies have slipped down to sixth behind I Can’t Believe It’s Not Russia, the USA and Ukraine.

Long jump: Anna Kaniuk runs right through the launching pad and across the sandbox without jumping. It does take her past the 8 metre mark but technically that’s not a legit result, Anna. Belarus will have to try again.

Long jump: Big effort from Zubkovska, a cheer upon standing, and… she’s jumped into the lead. That’s 5.54 metres, all of 6cm past Martinez. Can the Spaniard respond? Her third attempt, before Zubkovska’s jump, didn’t get near her second.

Wheelchair basketball: Not far into the third quarter, and Great Britain men lead Iran 33-44.

Archery: Lots of elimination matches happening in the archery, which I can’t describe to you because the broadcaster has not elected to broadcast it. Don’t know why that is, but all I can do from here is check the text results.

Boccia: Let a million flowers bloom, but instead of flowers they’re boccia games. So many happening at the moment. They’re held on indoor courts with coloured boules, so it doesn’t have the Italian-pensioner-village-square kind of vibe, but it’s still more chilled out than the other sports. As a player? Go for this ahead of the football.

Athletics: The T12 women’s long jump final is underway, second round of jumps happening now. Sara Martinez of Spain currently leads with 5.38m. Ukrainian Oksana Zubkovska holds the world record of 6.6 metres, but she set that nearly a decade ago, and her best today is well over a metre short of that.

Football: I’ve not had the experience of watching this kind of 5-a-side before, and let me tell you, it is absolutely brutal. Non-contact? Pfffft. They are belting into each other every other moment.

This is a visual impairment sport, so the players are blindfolded aside from the goalkeepers, who aren’t allowed to leave a tiny box in front of goal. There are bells in the ball, and the goalkeeper can call directions to the players, as can an assistant behind each team’s target goal, directing the shooting.

And there’s a fence all the way down the sidelines, which means that the ball doesn’t go out.

So it bounces around in the field, and players wearing shades go sprinting after it and bash one another out of the way. Then if someone has possession and is running forward, a defender will stand in their way and the two just iron one another out. And when the ball comes up against the side fence, one player might try to trap it there while an opponent or two comes up and barrages them to break the ball free.

Not for the faint-hearted. Most of the players have spent most of their time lying on the deck after being crunched.

Anyway. Japan just beat France 3-0.

Triathlon: Lauren Parker speaks after being caught just before the line, saying that she knew Gretsch was on the way.

“I gave it everything I could. I put my head down and went for it. I’m pretty proud of my efforts.”

Wheelchair basketball: A good start for the Great Britain men’s team against their old rivals Iran (I made that up), leading 19-24 in the second quarter. The Brits are currently second in their group behind their old rivals Australia (I made that up too).

After another early start for the para-triathletes, Kendall Gretsch of the US roared from behind to pip Australia’s Lauren Parker in a thrilling finish at the line of the women’s PTWC race at Odaiba Marine Park. It looked like Parker would secure another gold for Australia, but an unbelievable final effort saw Gretsch reel her in on the final sprint to cross the line first by the slightest of margins. Incredible scenes. Eva Maria Moral Pedrero of Spain took bronze. In the men’s race, Jetze Platz ofd the Netherlands won gold, ahead of Florian Brungraber of Austria and Giovani Achenza of Italy.

Both PTS5 races are under way.

Before we get properly stuck into today’s action, have a look at the best pics from day four in Tokyo.