Rio 2016 Paralympics: Five of the most impressive world records broken at the Games so far

By Rachel Swatman
Published

The Paralympic Games that are currently taking place in Rio have already been hugely successful and a multitude of new world records have been set in a variety of sports.

Here Guinness World Records rounds up some of the most impressive record-breaking achievements of the tournament so far.

Powerlifting -61 kg

A standout record was broken in the women’s powerlifting -61 kg category on Sunday as two athletes battled for gold in the Riocentro Pavillion 2.

The record going into the Games was 133kg. This was first broken by Egypt’s Fatma Omar with a 140 kg lift and then bettered by Nigeria’s Lucy Ejike with an outstanding 142 kg lift.

Team Nigeria’s captain won gold – the fifth medal for the country in the 2016 Paralympic Games.

Lucy, who has polio and uses a wheelchair, has competed in five Paralympic Games and has taken a medal home every time.


Fastest swim 100 m breaststroke - SB13 female

17-year-old swimmer Fotimakhon Amilova from Uzbekistan knocked more than three seconds off the female SB13 100 m breaststroke record.

Achieving an astonishing time of 1 min 12.45 sec, Fotimakhon bettered the record of 1 min 15.96 sec that was previously set by GB’s Rebeca Redfen, who achieved silver in Fotimakhon’s record-breaking race.

Fastest swim 200 m freestyle - S2 male

An incredible 200 m freestyle race by China’s Benying Liu saw the 20-year-old athlete take gold and a new world records.

Fellow Team China member Liankang Zou first achieved a record time with 3 min 49.37 sec, only for Benying to come back and win the final in a record-smashing time of 3 min 41.54 sec.

Benying was involved in an accident when he was eight years old which resulted in his limb impairments.

Fastest Men's B 4000m Individual Pursuit

Team GB’s Steve Bate smashed this record with a blinding time of 4 mins 8.146 sec., in a nail-biting ride piloted by Adam Duggleby. The pair won a gold medal in the track cycling event.

Fastest 100 m - T45/46/47 male

Petrucio Ferreira Dos Santos from Brazil (pictured above) won gold in a time of 10.57 seconds, breaking the previous record of 10.72 sec by a considerable amount.

The race took place at the Olympic Stadium yesterday on Sunday and Petrucio thrilled the audience by winning a gold for the host nation.

The Paralympic athlete is just 19-years-old and has only been competing professionally for two years.

Following his amazing win, he said: “I worked so hard to win this medal, our Brazilian medal. I'd like to dedicate it to the whole country, my state Paraiba and mainly to my parents.”

See if you can spot some of our awesome record holders in this inspiring Paralympic Games preview from Channel 4. 

Look out for

• Ellie Simmonds (UK): Fastest swim 400 m freestyle - S6 (female)

• Hannah Cockroft MBE - World, European and Paralympic Champion (UK): Fastest wheelchair 200 metres (T34, female), Fastest wheelchair 100 metres (T34, female)

• Matt Stutzman (USA): Men's archery - Farthest accurate distance

• Jessica Cox: First woman to fly an airplane with her feet

• Aaron Fotheringham aka “Wheelz” (USA): Highest ramp jump by wheelchair, First landed wheelchair backflip, Longest duration balancing a side wheelie (manual wheelchair)