Hunter Woodhall, the double amputee sprinter who is one half an Olympic-Paralympic power couple, charged to gold in the 400m on Friday while British cyclist Sarah Storey won the 19th title of her career.
American Woodhall, who is married to Olympic women's long jump champion Tara Woodhall-Davis, timed 46.36sec to hold off world record holder Johannes Floors of Germany and ran straight into the arms of his wife in the Stade de France.
It was a reversal of the roles when Woodhall-Davis won Olympic gold in the same stadium on August 8 and embraced her husband.
Last month, Hunter Woodhall cheered on wife Tara Davis-Woodhall as she won her first Olympic gold medal in the women’s long jump final
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 6, 2024
Today, she cheered him on as he won his first Paralympic gold medal in the men’s 400m T62 🙌❤️ pic.twitter.com/mDvaJAnk7U
"My first gold in a major championship and I couldn't pick a better one," Woodhall told reporters, with his beaming wife standing by his side, both wearing their respective gold medals.
"Tara has taught me a lot," he said. "Before the Olympics she was writing in her journal 'I will be the Olympic champ, I am strong, I am fast'. I brought my journal with me and the past few days I've been writing in there 'I will be Paralympic champion' and that's come true!"
STOREY COULD GO ON
Earlier, Storey beat French teenager Heidi Gaugain in an exciting sprint finish to the cycling road race.
It was 46-year-old Storey's 30th Paralympic medal, earned across two sports and in the nine Paralympic Games she has contested since Barcelona 1992.
"It's amazing, really amazing it's not sunk in at all. I'm delighted my wheel was at the front at the finish," Storey told reporters.
"It was just a matter of holding her as she continued her acceleration, it was a long way out.
"I'm still nippy for a 46-year-old but I use it wisely," she added.
Incredible!
— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) September 6, 2024
Dame Sarah Storey, at 46, powers to her 19th Paralympic gold with a stunning win in the women's C4-5 road race, adding another chapter to her legendary career! 🥇 🇬🇧 #Paralympics | #Paris2023 pic.twitter.com/6vBFRj5o00
Storey refused to rule out competing at her 10th Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
"I need to enjoy this one first, never say never to anything," she said.
GOLDEN SLAM
In wheelchair tennis, Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid won gold for Britain in the men's doubles final, beating Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda 6-2, 6-1 on the clay of Roland Garros.
Reid and Hewett have won 21 Grand Slam titles since starting to play together in 2016, but they were clear the Paralympic title was the one that they wanted the most.
They became the first men's pair to win the "golden slam".
We did it @alfiehewett6 !!!
— Gordon Reid (@GordonReid91) September 6, 2024
Paralympic GOLD medalists
A dream come true
🇬🇧🫡 pic.twitter.com/zucVTaeX2b
In other athletics action, double amputee Dutch sprinter Fleur Jong added the T64 women's 100m gold to the long jump title she won earlier in these Games.
She led home Dutch teammates Kimberly Alkemade and Marlene van Gansewinkel for the first clean sweep by one country of any athletics event at Paris Games.
"It's the one I've been dreaming of," Jong said. "The long jump is my love, and the 100m is my biggest challenge, so I really wanted this one."
A clean sweep for Netherlands in the 100m T64 🇳🇱
— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) September 6, 2024
🥇Fleur Jong
🥈Marlene Alkemade
🥉Marlene van Gansewinkel
📸 Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images#Paralympics | #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/iZw3HGezal
Italian swimmer Simone Barlaam, who was born with a congenital condition which resulted in an under-developed right leg, won his second gold in Paris with victory in the men's 100m butterfly.
GO, GO, BARLAAM! 🇮🇹 🥇
— Para Swimming (@Para_swimming) September 6, 2024
Italy's Simone Barlaam is the first one to touch the wall in the men's 100m butterfly S9 and grabs his second gold medal at #Paris2024.
🥈 Timothy Hodge 🇦🇺
🥉 Lewis Bishop 🇦🇺 #ParaSwimming #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/UrlyAajMLa
Brazil's Gabrielzinho, one of the faces of the Paris Paralympics, was in action again on Friday but failed to make the final after moving into a different category.
The Brazilian, who has stumps for arms and atrophied legs, has won three gold medals at these Games but had warned that when he moved into the S3 class, he would struggle.
So it proved as he finished fifth in his 50m freestyle heat won by Serhii Palamarchuk of Ukraine, leaving him outside the eighth fastest swimmers from the two heats who qualified for the final.
With two days of competition remaining, China lead the medals table on 83 golds with Great Britain advancing to 42 -- surpassing the number of golds they won in Tokyo three years ago -- and the USA are third with 31.
The Netherlands are fourth with 24 golds and Italy overtook host nation France to sit fifth on 20 golds.