Gold for Storey as ParalympicsGB surpass London 2012 haul

Great Britain's Paralympians surpassed their gold medal haul from London 2012 as Sarah Storey claimed the team's 35th gold of the Rio Games after winning the road cycling C5 time trial.

It was the cyclist's 13th Paralympic gold and her second at the Rio Games, after she won the 3km pursuit last week.

She now has two more golds than Tanni Grey-Thompson with whom she shares the record for most golds coming into the games. "The 38-year-old from Eccles has collected a total of 24 Paralympic medals since her first Games as a swimmer in 1992," reports the BBC.

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Storey's latest success came early on day seven of the Games after ParalympicsGB picked up another six golds on Tuesday, including three in the space of 20 minutes.

First Georgina Hermitage, who has been at the centre of a row over classifications, broke the world record as she claimed gold in the T37 400m final (afterwards she insisted she was racing in the correct category).

Two more golds followed when former rugby player Rob Davies, who broke his neck in September 2005 following a collapsed scrum, won gold in the men's table tennis class one, beating South Korea's Young Dae Joo 3-1 in the final. His victory came minutes before Hollie Arnold won gold in the F46 javelin, says The Guardian.

Later, Libby Clegg took gold in the T11 200m, with guide Chris Clarke. At the same time in the pool Stephanie Millward, who had four paralympics silvers and three bronzes to her name, finally won a gold in the women's S8 backstroke 100m final and Matt Wylie took the team's 34th gold in the men's S9 50m freestyle final.

However, there was disappointment for two stars of 2012 as Ellie Simmonds beat team-mate Ellie Robinson in the S6 400m freestyle final, but had to settle for a bronze medal. David Weir also relinquished his title as he came fourth in the T54 1,500m.

Gold for Ellie Simmonds as Paralympics GB medal haul grows

13 September

British swimmer Ellie Simmonds stole the limelight on another golden evening for the British Paralympics team, with three more gold medals in the pool. Her heroic performance follows successes for Will Bayley in the class 7 table tennis and Aled Davies in the F42 shot put.

Simmonds defended her 200m-medley title and set a new world record when she became the first SM6 swimmer to break the three-minute barrier – she finished in 2min 59.81sec.

Her triumph came immediately after 38-year-old Sascha Kindred won gold in the men's version of the same event. This set a world record on Kindred's final appearance at the Paralympics after he won an appeal against disqualification for a technical infringement during the heats.

Susannah Rodgers rounded off the evening by claiming the team's sixth swimming gold in the S7 50m butterfly.

But it was Simmonds's come-from-behind win that captured the popular imagination. "The British darling of London 2012 is the Paralympic poster-girl once more," says the Daily Telegraph. "It is a measure of Simmonds's popularity among her rivals that all gathered to congratulate her in the aftermath, while members of her family from Swansea dabbed away tears in the stands."

It was her fifth paralympic gold at the age of 21. "There might not have been the same raptures she witnessed on becoming Paralympic champion at her home Games, but she would hardly hesitate to describe this as her most satisfying triumph."

There could be more to come for Simmonds as she seems set for an "Ellie Clasico" against her namesake and team-mate Ellie Robinson.

"Ellie Robinson, who has the same condition as Simmonds [achondroplasia], is the spunky 15-year-old who won S6 50m butterfly gold last week. She was inspired to take up swimming after watching Simmonds in London. They could meet in the 400m freestyle final," says The Guardian.

It means that after five days of competition ParalympicsGB have won 28 gold medals and are second behind China in the standings with a total medal haul of 63.

Away from the pool there was drama at the track as visually-impaired athletes eclipsed the feats of their Olympic counterparts, recording faster times in the 1,500m, reports the Daily Telegraph.

"Algeria's Abdellatif Baka claimed victory in the T13 1,500m – but incredibly the first four athletes were all faster than American Matthew Centrowitz who won gold at the Olympics last month," says the paper. "Baka set a world record of 3mins 48.29secs for victory, more than 1.7 seconds faster than Centrowitz."

Great Britain storms towards Paralympic medal target

12 September

Great Britain's Paralympic team is on course for their best ever medal haul after picking up another eight golds on day four of action in Rio. In total the team picked up 21 medals on Sunday, taking their tally to 56.

"Rachel Morris's single sculls victory sparked three rowing golds in the space of an hour at the start of a morning that featured two more cycling golds and the evening ended with a second swimming triumph for Bethany Firth, a second successive T42 200m title for Richard Whitehead and F51 club throw glory for Jo Butterfield on her Paralympic debut," reports The Guardian.

"Britain also won six silvers and seven bronzes, taking their overall medal tally to 56, with 23 of them being gold. Second behind China in the standings, they are closing on their target of 121 medals."

Richard Whitehead's vicotry was the most high-profile of the day.

"Whitehead exudes certainty and a clear-sighted purpose that enables him to achieve whatever he sets his mind to. This is the man, let us not forget, who remains primarily a marathon runner and only took up sprinting because there was no long-distance event suitable for double-amputees at the London Paralympic Games four years ago," says John Westerby in The Times.

"With the exposure he gained in London, Whitehead has become a high-profile spokesman for the advancement of Paralympic sport, the quest for greater recognition of the rights of disabled people in society at large, not to mention a prolific fund-raiser." He also ran 40 marathons in 40 days in 2013, adds Westerby.

Sarah Storey becomes Britain's greatest female Paralympian

9 September

Sarah Storey has become Britain's greatest-ever female Paralympian after winning her 12th gold medal on the opening day of the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.

The 38-year-old, competing in her seventh Paralympics, overtook the record of Tanni Grey-Thompson when she won gold in the C5 3,000m individual pursuit cycling at the velodrome where Team GB's Olympic cyclists dominated last month.

"After blowing the competition away during the Olympics, the Paralympians were no less dominant on the track on the first day of competition in Rio, winning three golds in little over an hour," says The Guardian.

In addition to Storey's gold there were victories for Megan Giglia in the C1-3 3,000m individual pursuit and Steve Bate and his pilot, Adam Duggleby, in the B 4000m tandem pursuit.

"This was some statement of intent, an emphatic demonstration of the team's strength in depth... but the evening belonged to Storey," says the Guardian.

The athlete first competed in the 1992 Paralympics as a swimmer, but switched to cycling at Beijing in 2008. Since the London Paralympics, where she won four golds, Storey has become a mother, but shows no signs of slowing down.

"Expect more golds for Storey, too, as she is the favourite to win two of her three remaining events, the road race and road time-trial, and could add a further medal in the 500m time-trial on the track on Saturday," says The Times.

British success was not confined to the velodrome. After the first full day of action ParalympicsGB had a total of 11 medals, five of them gold.

The other two golds came in the pool where Ollie Hynd won the S8 400m freestyle in a world-record time of 4min 21.89sec. Not to be outdone, Bethany Firth twice broke the world record in the S14 100m backstroke, first in qualifying and then in the final to take gold in 1min 04.05sec.