TOKYO – It was a night to remember as Team USA closed out the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 delivering a dominating performance en route to collecting a world record, four golds, and five total medals to end the Tokyo Games in stunning fashion.
The headline victory of the night belonged to Elizabeth Marks (Colorado Springs, Colorado), who started the American’s medal haul with a win in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S6. Her world record time of 1:19.57 was over a second faster than any other competitor in the field and broke the previous record (1:21.43) by nearly two seconds. The win also gave Marks her fifth career Paralympic medal and second gold.
Next up in the pool Robert Griswold (Freehold, N.J.) earned his second gold medal of the Games by claiming the win in the men’s 100 butterfly S8. His time of 1:02.03 set an America’s record and put Griswold on the top step of the podium.
The second-most decorated Paralympian in history took to the water in the next event with the women’s 100 butterfly S8. Jessica Long (Baltimore, Maryland) led the race from start to finish and touched the wall in 1:09.87 for her third gold medal of these Games, 16th career gold, and 29th career Paralympic medal.
Team USA’s dominance continued with a fourth win in a row as Evan Austin (Terre Haute, Indiana) grabbed his first-ever Paralympic gold grabbing the top spot in the men’s 50 butterfly S7. The Paralympic bronze medalist out-touched Ukraine’s Andrii Trusov by just five-one hundredths of a second, finishing in an Americas record time of 28.98.
Mallory Weggemann (Eagan, Minnesota), Julia Gaffney (Mayflower, Arkansas), and McKenzie Coan (Clarksville, Georgia) attempted to make it five consecutive event wins for Team USA in the women’s 50 butterfly S7. Weggemann secured the U.S.’ fifth podium appearance of the night after winning silver with a time of 34.30. It was her third medal of the Games and the fifth Paralympic medal of her career.
Gaffney, the first-time Paralympian who won two bronze medals, added a top-five finish to her results in Tokyo finishing in 35.74. Coan, the three-time Paralympian who won a gold and silver medal in Tokyo, finished seventh in 37.47.
Two other U.S. swimmers appeared in the closing session for Para swimming. First-time Paralympian and two-time Paralympic medalist Anastasia Pagonis (Long Island, N.Y.) swam an Americas record 1:06.65 for fourth place in the women’s 100 freestyle S11. Two-time Paralympic champion Mikaela Jenkins (Evansville, Indiana) finished seventh in 2:36.34 in the women’s 200 individual medley SM10.
Earlier in the day, Team USA saw Rudy Garcia-Tolson (Colorado Springs, Colorado) and the men’s 4×100 medley 34 points relay team of Joey Peppersack (Hopewell, Virginia), Zach Shattuck (Mt. Airy, Maryland), Matthew Torres (Ansonia, Connecticut) and Jamal Hill (Inglewood, California) take to the pool. Garcia-Tolson placed ninth overall in the men’s 50 butterfly S7 in 32.34. The relay team also finished ninth in 4:50.05.
Team USA concludes the Tokyo Games with 15 gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 10 bronze medals. The 35 total medals are the most for swimming since winning 38 total medals in 2008.
