Richard Whitehead
Two-time Paralympic champion on BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, PA Media

The public are so engaged with the Paralympics. The conversations I am having on the street is about what we are going to see.

I am talking about the performances and not the disabilities, you are going to see high performance sport in something you haven't seen before.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Katie Smith is live in Paris with coverage of the 2024 Paralympic Games.

She is alongside two-time Paralympic champion Richard Whitehead and BBC reporter Ed Harry.

You can listen to the show on BBC Radio 5 Live or by clicking the 'Watch & listen' link at the top of this page.

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Ihar Boki's win is the first for a Neutral Paralympic Athlete representative in Paris - but you will not see it reflected on the Games medal table.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus have been allowed to compete at the Games as neutrals with the NPA delegation featuring 90 competitors from Russia and eight from Belarus, including Boki.

All NPA were independently vetted to ensure they have not supported the Ukraine war and are not contracted to the military.

In Paris, they are wearing neutral uniforms that must not feature any national colours, flag, country name or national emblem, symbol or designation.

For Boki's medal ceremony, the Paralympic anthem will be played.

Up last and by no means least in today's medal-filled evening of swimming comes in the women's S5 200m freestyle final.

ParalympicsGB's Tully Kearney, the world record holder in this event, is Britain's hope for a medal, what would be GB's third medal of the day in the pool.

In qualifying, her time of 2:49:40 was the fastest of all eight of tonight's finalists.

Before that, we have the men's S5 200m freestyle final, which is up next.

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ParalympicGB's Daphne Schrager said she had "dreamed of this since I was a kid" after she won GB's first medal of the Paris Games in the women's 3000m C1-3 individual pursuit.

The 23-year-old said it was “insane” to receive her medal from actor and director, Jackie Chan.

“He's been in so many movies, I was just like 'oh my god you're real'. I promised my mum I wouldn't cry on the podium, then I did - one of those things.”

Schrager, who is competing in her first ever Games is now looking ahead to the LA Games in 2028: “My coach said to me ‘four years' time, you will have that gold’, we've made that pact now.

“I didn't think three minutes 45 seconds was possible today, hopefully I can continue that upward trajectory.”

During the Covid lockdown Schrager started cycling in car parks: “The lonely hours spurred me on, and having a disability makes you more resilient. This is the proof."

Schrager added that Kadeena Cox "has the whole team around her to pick her up" after she crashed out of her final in the women's C4-5 500m time trial.

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ParalympicsGB's William Ellard, speaking to Channel 4 after winning the silver medal in the men's S14 100m butterfly final: “It is definitely hard here being at the Paralympics, going back to the village and trying to recover yourself as fast as possible and then coming back [to La Defense Arena].

“Those last 25m hurt a lot, it wasn’t like that this morning. I am ecstatic with the silver medal."

On friends and family's support: "I have about 30-35 people here. The crowd here is amazing and when you walk out it’s like nothing else.”

Don't go anywhere because we have more Boccia coming your way! Great Britain's Sally Kidson will take on Brazil's Evelyn Oliveira in around 10 minutes.

BBC Radio 5 Live

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Stephen Park, performance director of British Cycling, has been speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live on the impact of Kadeena Cox's fall in the time trial final earlier today:

"Kadeena had a great qualification ride. She did what she needed to do to qualify for the gold medal final but unfortunately in what was her second race of the day as she came out of the start gate, she had a huge wobble on her bike brought on by the disability that gives her weakness on her right side.

"Unfortunately she was not able to get that under control before she came into that first really steep banked corner and that resulted in her falling off - something that is really unusual for Kadeena. I can’t recall a single instance where that has happened to her before.

"Obviously in an event where she is used to performing well, delivering medals, it left her very upset because she wasn’t able to get a restart due to their being no mechanical issue with any of the equipment.

"It was just unfortunately a rider issue - but that is one of the things that happens in Paralympic sport."

In her chances in the mixed sprint later in the week:

"At the end of the day athletes are training for years to get to positions where they are competitive for medals. Kadeena’s had some ups and downs in recent weeks and was recovering from an injury. She managed to get on top of that and was in training, her performances were certainly good enough for her to challenge for that gold medal today.

"Being in a situation where you’re not able to lay down a time and get a result or an opportunity to leaves you distraught. She does have another opportunity at the weekend.

"We’re confident she will be in good form by the time we get to that event. She'll be with two other colleagues, they'll be making sure they will put themselves in a position to be competitive for the gold medal and we’re confident she will be in good shape by the time she gets there."

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In the women's S10 50m freestyle, China's Yi Chen has just won gold and in doing so, has set a new world record.

With a time of 27.10, she's beaten the previous world record by 16 hundredths of a second.

Christie Raleigh-Crossley from the United States has won the silver medal, with Canada's Aurelie Rivard taking bronze.

A moment ago, we heard from Phelipe Rodrigues, who went into tonight going into his fifth Paralympics, having already won eight Paralympic medals.

He has now made that nine career Paralympic medals, winning a silver medal in the men's S10 50m final.

Either side of him is a gold and bronze for Australia's Thomas Gallagher and Rowan Crothers respectively.

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Poppy Maskill's stunning world record performance delivered Great Britain's first gold medal of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, taking ParalympicsGB up to five medals overall so far on the opening day.

Maskill clocked one minute 03.00 seconds to claim the the women’s 100m butterfly S14 title, after fellow British teenager Will Ellard won men’s 100m butterfly S14 silver behind Denmark's Alexander Hillhouse.

Daphne Schrager and Steve Bate, alongside pilot Chris Latham, also won silvers in the velodrome.

Schrager took silver in the women's C1-3 3000m individual pursuit, while Bate and Latham also came second in the men's B 4000m individual pursuit final.

However, team-mate and four-time Paralympic champion Kadeena Cox crashed out of her time trial final.

In para table tennis, 14-year-old Bly Twomey and Felicity Pickard took women’s doubles WD14 bronze after losing out to China’s Wenjuan Huang and Yucheng Jin in the semi-finals.

Still to come today, women's 200m freestyle S5 world record holder Tully Kearney will aim to upgrade her Tokyo silver to Paris gold at about 19:45 BST.

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ParalympicsGB have already won two medals today in the Para-Swimming, with 10 of today's 15 finals already taking place.

There is still another chance for Great Britain to add to those medals from Poppy Maskill and William Ellard in the pool in tonight's final race of the night.

Tully Kearney is competing in the final of the women's S5 200m freestyle, an event she currently holds the world record in, in the next hour or so.

Phelipe Rodrigues is an eight-time Paralympic Para-Swimming medallist and is hoping to add to his medal tally this evening in the men's 50m freestyle S10 final, which is up next.

Ahead of what is Rodrigues' fifth Paralympics, he has opened up on his journey to Paris, his mental health and wanting to leave a legacy in Para-Swimming.

Rodrigues will also be competing in the 100m freestyle S10 event at this summer's Paralympics.

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One of the highlights for Great Britain on this opening day of the Paralympics has been Poppy Maskill's performance in the women's S14 100m butterfly final.

With a time of 1:03:00, not only did Maskill take the gold medal, but she also broke the world record by a third of a second in the process.

She's just been handed her gold medal and there is a strong British presence in support of Maskill and the rest of British athletes in the pool today.

As the British flag is raised aloft and 'God Save the King' is played, there is a sense of pride and shock from Maskill, but plenty of smiles nonetheless before posing for photos with fellow medal winners Yui Lam Chan from Hong Kong and Valerila Shabalina, representing the Neutral Paralympic Athletes.

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In Para-Archery, Nathan MacQueen has booked his place into tomorrow's round of 16 in the men's individual compound event.

Today's open ranking event has just concluded and MacQueen has finished in sixth place with his season best score of 696.

From his 72 shots, MacQueen recorded 20 X's and 49 10's.

German pair Thomas Bruechle and Sandra Mikolaschek were just far too much for Great Britain's Thomas Matthews and Megan Shackleton in their round of 16 contest.

The fifth seeds won 3-0, with the GB pair taking just 15 points during the three games.

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Steve Bate and pilot Chris Latham won a silver medal in the men's B 4000m individual pursuit earlier today.

Bate, who is competing in his third Paralympics, said: "If this is my last event, a hell of a way to go out.

"Everything has been geared towards this event, I haven't thought much beyond that."

Bate's focus now shifts to the road, as he competes in two events for the ParalympicsGB team.

"I'll get the two road events out the way, take some time off and see where we are at," he added.

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Great Britain's Thomas Matthews and Megan Shackleton are well up against it in their round of 16 match.

German fifth seeds Thomas Bruechle and Sandra Mikolaschek are two games to the good and need just one more game to book their place in the quarter-finals.

The Para-table tennis doesn't stop there and now Great Britain's Thomas Matthews and Megan Shackleton are back in action after their round of 32 win earlier in the afternoon.

They're taking on German fifth seeds Thomas Bruechle and Sandra Mikolaschek.

It's the German duo who have the lead after winning the first game 11-9 and they're well on their way to the second game.