Paris 2024: Third successive gold for Ferreira dos Santos on record-breaking evening

Rainy weather conditions couldn't deter the spirit of the Para athletes champions as they raced, jumped and threw to put up a stunning show at a packed Stade de Fance on the first day of athletics competition at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Eight Paralympic champions were awarded on the evening session on Friday (30 August).

Brazil's Petrucio Ferreira Dos Santos retained the men’s 100m T47 for the third Games in succession, clocking 10.68 seconds that overcame USA's Korban Best, who had beaten him in the heats earlier in the day. 

“I won this event when I was very young in Rio (2016 Paralympic Games) and that was amazing. Now I am a three-time champion – I have no words to describe this. I am really very happy," said an elated Dos Santos as he celebrated his won win with his popular backward somersault infront of the deafening crowd.

“It’s been 10 years since I lost a 100m final and it means a lot.

“I am much older now but I still get nervous and anxious. Underneath, I am the same boy who gets excited about racing. You saw that at the end when I was celebrating.”

Later, Ricardo Gomes De Mendonca made it a golden sprint double for Brazilian team winning the men’s 100m T37 final in 11.07 seconds.

Records for Dongdong, Ibrahmi

There were also a few world records broken in the evening to match with the morning historic shows. China's Di Dongdong defended his men’s long jump T11 title with a world record effort of 6.85m. In doing so, he also improved the long-standing record of 6.73m set by USA's Lex Gillette in 2014. It was China's one of the two gold medals in the evening.

In the women’s club throw F32, Tunisia's Maroua Ibrahmi broke the world record by 0.23cm, as she threw the club to 29.00m on her last attempt. Maroua, who won her second gold in the event since Rio 2016, improved Poland's Roza Kozakowska's record set in June 2024. 

All medallists from the day one evening session can be found below.

Women's Club Throw - F32 Final
Gold: Maroua Ibrahmi (TUN)
Silver: Parastoo Habibi (IRI)
Bronze: Giovanna Boscolo Castilho Goncalv (BRA)

Men's Shot Put - F55 Final
Gold: Ruzhdi Ruzhdi (BUL)
Silver: Zafar Zaker (IRI)
Bronze: Lech Stoltman (POL)

Men's Long Jump - T11 Final
Gold: Dongdong Di (CHN)
Silver: Shichang  Chen (CHN)
Bronze: Joan Munar Martinez (ESP)

Men's 400m - T52 Final
Gold: Maxime Carabin (BEL)
Silver: Tomoki Sato (JPN)
Bronze: Tomoya Ito (JPN)

Men's 100m - T37 Final
Gold: Ricardo Gomes de Mendonca (BRA)
Silver: Saptoyogo Purnomo (INA)
Bronze: Andrei Vdovin (NPA)

Men's 100m - T47 Final
Gold: Petrucio Ferreira dos Santos (BRA)
Silver: Korban Best (USA)
Bronze: Aymane El Haddaoui (MAR)

Women's 200m - T37 Final
Gold: Xiaoyan Wen (CHN)
Silver: Nataliia Kobzar (UKR)
Bronze: Fenfen Jiang (CHN)

Men's Shot Put - F37 Final
Gold: Kudratillokhon Marufkhujaev (UZB)
Silver: Ahmed Ben Moslah (TUN)
Bronze: Tolibboy Yuldashev (UZB)