Charlotte Henshaw lands Paralympic breaststroke bronze in Rio

Charlotte Henshaw won the second Paralympic medal of her career with 100m Breaststroke bronze at Rio 2016.

The SB6 classification swimmer came home in 1:37.79 to add bronze to her silver in the same event four years ago.

Australia’s world champion Tiffany Thomas Kane clocked a Paralympic record 1:35.39 for gold while USA’s Sophia Herzog took silver in 1:36.95.

But 29-year old Nova Centurion swimmer Henshaw pulled clear of the rest of the field to secure the final place on the podium at her third Paralympics.

World bronze medallist and ParalympicsGB teammate Ellie Simmonds clocked a personal best 1:39.46 to finish fourth.

“That was hard work, it hurt a lot,” said Henshaw, who was competing in her only event of the Games. “I felt really relaxed going into it. I went quicker than this morning but I’m disappointed with the time.

“But I always say people shouldn’t dismiss a medal at the Paralympic Games, it’s a great thing to be here.

“It’s very hard to get a medal now, so to get on the podium at 29, I’m quite happy with that.”

The result was Henshaw’s eighth major medal in nine years in the SB6 100m Breaststroke.

Since finishing fourth on her Paralympic debut in 2008, she has won two silvers and a bronze at World level as well as a silver and two golds – including in 2016 – on the European stage.

Claire Cashmore sets PB in 100m Fly final

S9 classification swimmer Claire Cashmore was the only other ParalympicsGB swimmer in an individual final on the night.

Having won SB8 100m Breaststroke silver 24 hours earlier, she clocked a personal best to finish fifth in the 100m Butterfly.

The 28-year old touched in 1:09.46 in the final, finishing just 0.25 seconds behind Hungary’s bronze medallist Zsofia Konkoly.

Cashmore’s previous best had come in the morning heats from which the English Paralympic swimmer qualified second fastest in 1:09.77.

Women’s freestyle relay finish fourth

An all-English quartet closed the night with a fourth place in the women’s 34pt 4x100m Freestyle Relay.

Stephanie Millward, Amy Marren, Susie Rodgers and Alice Tai clocked 4:26.95 for ParalympicsGB. But the Brits finished a couple of seconds shy of the podium as China took bronze on 4:24.22.

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