Para-swimmer Jiang Yuhan has won her sixth title at the Paris Paralympic Games, a record for the 19-year-old.
Chinese para-swimmer Jiang Yuyan won the S6 400m freestyle on Friday, securing her sixth gold medal and securing her place as the most decorated athlete at the Paris Paralympics, male or female.
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The 19-year-old swimmer, who had her right arm and leg amputated, has won every race she has taken part in since the start of the Games in Paris and will be aiming for a seventh title in the 100m backstroke on Saturday. Jiang Yuyan had kicked off her Games by winning her first event in the 50m freestyle on the first day of competition.
She then won the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay 20 points, the 50m butterfly S6, the 100m freestyle S7, and the 4x50m medley 20 pts. On Friday, she won in 5 min 12 sec 07 ahead of the Swiss Nora Meister and the British Maisie Summers-Newton.
At 16, she had already won two gold medals at the Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games. She took first place in the 400m freestyle S6 and the 50m butterfly S6, as well as silver in the 100m backstroke S6 and bronze in the 100m freestyle S7. At these Paris Games, she has therefore done better than Belarusian star swimmer Ihar Boki, who has won five titles. He also won six gold medals in Tokyo three years ago.
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The record for most titles at a single Paralympic Games is held by the most decorated American para-swimmer in history, Trischa Zorn. She achieved the feat of hanging ten gold medals around her neck in Seoul in 1988 and in Barcelona in 1992, with two silver medals to boot.
Long before, in 1968, the Italian Roberto Marson had also obtained ten by lining up in swimming, athletics and fencing in the same competition. And his compatriot the Italian Maria Scutti in 1960 had done the same by also multiplying the events.
