Pavlova finished first in the 100-metre breaststroke among athletes with musculoskeletal disorders (SB7 class). She also celebrated her victory in Tokyo. And in Paris, a world record was added to the title. In addition, Maria surpassed her own achievement, which she had set only recently, in June. The Russian improved her time by 0.77 seconds (1:26.09 vs. 1:26.86).
Lukyanenko also took home Paralympic gold in the 100m breaststroke, but in the SB11 class for visually impaired athletes. Dasha won in a Paralympic record time of 1:18.31. Lukyanenko collected quite a collection of awards in Paris. She competed in five individual events and already won gold in the 200m individual medley with a new world record (2:37.77), and won bronze in the 400m freestyle and 100m backstroke.
We also paid special attention to table tennis, where 53-year-old Elena Prokofieva, who competes in the WS11 category among athletes with intellectual disabilities, reached the final. In Tokyo, she climbed to the top step of the podium and was able to repeat that success. But all her decisive matches were a struggle between experience and youth. In the semi-finals, Prokofieva defeated Japanese Kanami Furukawa in five sets, but in the final she lost to another Japanese representative, 21-year-old Natsuki Wada. Although silver is also a very worthy result for the oldest athlete of the Russian national team.
