Tully Kearney and Maisie Summers-Newton both delivered dominant defences of Paralympic titles in the Women's S5 100m Freestyle and SM6 200m Individual Medley events respectively to ensure another triumphant night for ParalympicsGB's swimmers on day two of Paris 2024.
Kearney backed up her superb victory in the S5 200m Freestyle on Thursday to come back and again produce a fine display of freestyle swimming, before Summers-Newton showed just why she is unbeaten in major international events over the 200m Individual Medley in the past six years to win the third Paralympic gold of her career - while Brock Whiston closed the night by reaching the podium with silver in the Women's SB8 100m Breaststroke in her maiden Paralympic final.
For Tully, the S5 100m Freestyle success owed much to her powers of recovery after a late finish the day before, when she had won the 200m event. Less than 24 hours later, she again lined up in lane four - and again, kept pace with Ukraine's Iryna Poida over the first half of the race, before surging into the lead off a strong turn and building from there to reach the wall for gold.
"It's pretty incredible. I was a bit concerned about this one, but to retain my title feels incredible. It was such a late night last night, then an early start and not long in between to rest, so it was really hard for all of us that swam last night to keep that energy up," she said.
"This crowd is amazing. Because we were the first event tonight, there were so many people here, and to hear the crowd and that noise gave me a big push.
"I'm just so grateful to the team for helping me get here, and also everyone that plays The National Lottery, because if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here. I'm so grateful to everyone who has helped us."
Tully's result would ensure the first of two occasions on the night that the Union flag was raised highest over the podium - with the ever-consistent Summers-Newton delivering the second Friday night gold.
Maisie started well to hold her own against American Ellie Marks across the opening 100m of butterfly and backstroke, before her dominance over the breaststroke leg saw her move well clear of the field. The Northampton Swimming Club athlete then powered down the final 50m of freestyle to consolidate her lead and cap a massive victory, three years on from the race that brought her a first Paralympic title in this event in Tokyo.
![Tully Kearney GOLD podium shot S5 100m Freestyle Paris 2024](https://www.aquaticsgb.com/media/images/Tully_Kearney_GOLD_podium_shot_S5_100m_Freesty.width-800.jpg)
"I was really, really nervous. That's something that has come since Tokyo, there is a lot of pressure being Paralympic champion and then trying to defend your title, it has been a lot. But I am just trying to enjoy it and reminding myself I've been at the top since 2018, it's a long time. I'm reminding myself, 'you're obviously doing things right this year, PBing, getting a new world record earlier this year'," said the 22-year-old, who also revealed that she had had a brief hold of flatmate and teammate Poppy Maskill's gold medal as added inspiration ahead of her final.
"These three years have been fantastic - I've finished university, I'm a qualified primary school teacher now, met so many different friends - but at the same time, I've still got that side to me that I am an elite athlete, I'm still trying to work really hard in the pool, and that has paid off in the last three years.
"Team-wise, I've definitely become a more senior member of the team, we've got so many young athletes like Iona [Winnifrith] and Poppy coming up. They're doing so well, so for me it's trying to inspire them, try to give them what knowledge I can, but also focus on myself and still try to swim really well."
Behind Maisie, Grace Harvey improved on her result from the SM6 200m Individual Medley final from Tokyo by missing out on a medal by a single position, finishing fourth after four strong laps of medley swimming.
The Manchester Performance Centre athlete will be back in action on Sunday as she looks to win another SB5 100m Breaststroke medal after silver three years ago.
Last up on the evening, Brock Whiston ensured that it would be a haul of two golds and one silver for a second consecutive finals session for ParalympicsGB as she finished second in the Women's SB8 100m Breaststroke, on her Games debut.
Whiston was never out of the top two as she quickly established her place behind eventual gold medallist Anastasiya Dmytriv Dmytriv of Spain, coming back hard down the final 25m to close the gap with every stroke and touch for silver, comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack and back on a senior international podium.
![Brock Whiston podium shot SILVER SB8 100m Breaststroke Paris 2024](https://www.aquaticsgb.com/media/images/GettyImages-2169492234.width-800.jpg)
While there were mixed emotions afterwards for Brock, she acknowledged what it meant to now be a Paralympic medallist.
"I'm actually disappointed, not for coming second but my time - I've done a lot faster this season. I don't really know what happened, I think I went out too slow and had too much work to do on the second 50m, but I'm happy to get a silver medal," she said.
"I should be really proud of myself but I'm quite harsh on myself as well and always want to do my best. I think a lot of people look back at the time I did in 2019, unfortunately I'm not that athlete anymore, a lot has changed with my impairment. I'm disappointed with the time but I should be happy."
There were several Paralympic debutants in action for GB on the night, including Bruce Dee, who put together a solid swim to place fourth in the final of the Men's SM6 200m Individual Medley - thanks to a brilliant second 100m, his breaststroke and freestyle speed taking him from seventh to fourth.
Meanwhile, Scarlett and Eliza Humphrey enjoyed a unique moment as they lined up next to each other in lanes seven and eight of the Women's S11 400m Freestyle final, ultimately finishing sixth and eighth respectively after both booking their places in the finale to kickstart their first Paralympic experience.