Sophie Pascoe has done it again, winning gold in the women's S9 100m freestyle final in Tokyo this evening.
The victory gives her a historic 10th Paralympic gold and takes her career medal tally to a whopping 18.
It was a brilliant performance by New Zealand's most successful Olympian as she claimed her third medal of these Games, leading the race from start to finish.
Quick off the blocks, Pascoe emerged out of the water at the front of the pack and never looked like giving up the lead.
At the turn she was threatening her own world record pace, flying through the first 50m in just 29.62 seconds. The effects of her heavy schedule appeared to fatigue her in the back half, but she was never going to be caught having built up such a commanding lead.
She finished in 1:02.37, 0.4 seconds ahead of second-placed Sarai Gascon, of Spain.
The storied Paralympian burst into tears as the emotion of a historic gold medal swept over her.
Pascoe will not have long to celebrate. Tomorrow she is back in the pool in the 200m individual medley heats, while the heats of the 100m butterfly also await on Thursday.
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