KEY POINTS:
Swimming star Sophie Pascoe won her third gold and fourth medal overall while Daniel Sharp followed with up a silver at the Beijing Paralympics last night.
Pascoe was first equal in a dramatic finish in the 100m backstroke with a time of 1min 10.57sec, while Sharp's silver came
in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1min 08.73sec.
Pascoe's time in the final beat the world record time of 1min 11.26sec which she set in the heats in the morning.
The Christchurch 15-year-old was equal with South Africa's Shireen Sapiro coming down the home straight as they touched the wall together way ahead of the rest of the field.
"I just gave it my all and I've got nothing left," she said afterwards. "We both went out on the day wanting gold and we both got it.
"Unfortunately on the TV you can see it (how close we were) when you're in the backstroke.
"I wanted to control myself and I knew she was going to come back. That's where I've got to really use my leg power because I've only got one leg," she said.
Pascoe will now get some time with her parents in Beijing who have been leaving their daughter to concentrate on her racing.
She had already won gold medals in the 100m breaststroke and 200m IM medley, and a silver in the 100m butterfly.
Sharp said he was happy with his swim after finishing just over four seconds behind Ukranian Oleksii Fedyna.
"Obviously I went out there to win the gold, but knew it was going to be very tough.
"The Ukranian had done a time much faster than my PB. I went out there after him, but couldn't catch him, so I'm happy with silver," Sharp said.
New Zealand now has 11 medals - four golds, three silver and four bronze.
Other New Zealand results featured Tim Prendergast finishing fifth in the 1500m, but not looking fully recovered from his collapse two days earlier.
In the women's javelin Southland's Jess Hamill finished tenth even after gaining a distance which would have had her in the top six, however ratings for disabilities pushed her down the order.
Annemarie Donaldson finished in eighth place in the women's handcycling road race.
Today 200m silver medallist Kate Horan will compete in the 100m heats and finals, while Cameron Leslie has the heats and finals in the 150m IM in the pool.
The tandem of Jayne Parsons and pilot Annaliisa Farrell, bronze medallists in the road time trail, take on the gruelling 72.6km road race where they are potential medallists.
- NZPA
