Simmonds Wins Second Swimming Gold at Paralympics in 200M Medley

Eleanor Simmonds secured her second gold medal of the London Paralympic Games with a world record in the women’s 200-meter individual medley SM6.

The 17-year-old from Britain, who also took the gold in the 400-meter freestyle, won in 3 minutes, 5.39 seconds at the Aquatics Centre yesterday. Verena Schott of Germany was 8.9 seconds behind with Simmonds’s compatriot Natalie Jones, 27, in third place.

“I believed I was going to get that gold medal,” Simmonds told reporters. “I knew it was going to be tough, but mainly I was racing against myself.”

China leads the medal standings with 46 golds and 112 in total after six of 12 days of competition, while Britain has 19 golds and 63 overall. Third-place Russia has 16 golds among its 49 medals, which is one more in total than Australia, which also has 16 golds.

China has dominated in the pool, where it’s won 13 gold medals. Australia has nine golds and the Ukraine and U.S. both have seven in swimming events.

China’s Yang Yang, 15, won the men’s 100-meter freestyle S2 yesterday in a world record time of 2:03.71. Russia’s Dmitrii Kokarev finished second, 12.75 seconds behind with Aristeidis Makrodimitris of Greece taking the bronze.

Yao Juan of China set a world record with 1,055 points and a mark of 13.05 meters in the women’s shot put F42/44, beating countrywoman Yang Yue. Germany’s Michaela Floeth was third.

The games run through Sept. 9, with more than 4,000 athletes from 164 teams competing in a series of classes depending on their impairment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Elser in London at celser@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net