COWDREY MAKES IT A GOLDEN HAT TRICK WITH WORLD RECORD IN THE WATERCUBE
Beijing, September 14: South Australian 19-year-old, Matthew Cowdrey notched up his third individual gold medal here in Beijing and the fifth of his career after clocking a new world record in the S9 men's 100 metre backstroke final.
Cowdrey showed his signature grit over the final stages of the race to take the gold in a new mark of 1:03.34, just touching out home town hero, Guo Zi of China (1:03.59) and American, Jarrett Perry (1:03.66).
The win sets up an exciting battle within the Australian swim team for overall medals in Beijing over the final two days of competition with both Cowdrey (three gold, three silver) and Peter Leek (two gold three silver and one bronze) both currently holding six medals each.
In other events on day seven, Gold Coast 21-year-old, Michael Anderson grabbed his first ever Paralympic medal with a hard fought silver on debut in the men's S10 100 metres backstroke.
The kid who originated from Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales North Coast, Anderson moved north of the border to chase his Paralympic dream and missed the gold in his favourite event by just a fingernail of 0.18 of a second clocking a time of 1:01.47 to American victor, Justin Zook (1:01.29).
Australia's final medal of the night went to the consistent teenager, Ellie Cole with the leg amputee grabbing her third medal of these games with a bronze in the S9 100 backstroke final. Cole stopped the clock in a time of 1:11.87 to grab the podium placing behind Canadian winner, Stephanie Dixon (1:09.30) and Elizabeth Stone (1:11.16) of the United States.
With two days of competition remaining Australia's swimmers have a medal tally of seven gold, nine silver and seven bronze.
2008 PARALYMPICS AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING MEDALLISTS AFTER DAY SEVEN
Gold
Matthew Cowdrey Men's 100 metre backstroke S9 1:03.34 WR
Matthew Cowdrey Men's 100 metre freestyle S9 55.30 WR
Matthew Cowdrey Men's 200 metre individual medley S9 2:13.60 WR
Peter Leek Men's 100 metre butterfly S8 1:00.95 WR
Peter Leek Men's 200 metres individual medley S8 2:20.92 WR
Katrina Porter Women's 100 metre backstroke S7 1:24.30 WR
Rick Pendleton Men's 200 metre individual medley S10 2:12.78 WR
Silver
Michael Anderson Men's 100 metre backstroke S10 1:01.47
Matthew Cowdrey Men's 100 metre butterfly S9 59.46
Matthew Cowdrey Men's 400 metre freestyle S9 4:17.02
Peter Leek Men's 100 metre backstroke S8 1:07.28
Peter Leek Men's 400 metre freestyle S8 4:31.16
Ellie Cole Women's 100 metre butterfly S9 1:10.92
Blake Cochrane Men's 100 metre breaststroke SB7 1:23.36
Sarah Bowen Women's 100 metre breaststroke SB6 1:42.39
Ben Austin Men's 4x100 metre freestyle relay 34PTS 3:53.59
Peter Leek
Sam Bramham
Matthew Cowdrey
Bronze
Ellie Cole Women's 100 metre backstroke S9 1:11.87
Ellie Cole Women's 400 metre freestyle S9 4:44.60
Jacqueline Freney Women's 100 metre freestyle S8 1:08.56
Jacqueline Freney Women's 400 metre freestyle S8 4:57.21
Annabelle Williams Women's 100 metre butterfly S9 1:10.98
Peter Leek Men's 100 metre freestyle S8 59.14
Jay Dohnt Men's 400 metre freestyle S7 4:59.47
Kurt Hanson
Media Manager
Hanson Media Group