Brazilian Gabriel Bandeira set a new Paralympic record during the qualifying of the 100m butterfly class S14, held this Tuesday (at Brasília time), in Tokyo. But he was the record holder for a short time. Three minutes later, his mark was surpassed.
The race, debuting in the Paralympic program, had records in three heats for the qualifiers. Thus, the first record holder was the winner of the initial battery, the Australian Liam Schluter, who completed the race in 58s38.
Then it was the Brazilian’s turn. Gabriel won his heat in 56s78, improving the record by over a second and a half and qualifying for the final.
But the British Reece Dunn, who is the world record holder, showed right away who is in charge of the race. In the third and final heat, he won with 55s99, a time that remains as a Paralympic record at least until the final, which will be at 6:04 am (Brasilia time) this Wednesday. The world record, also his, is 54s46.