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An emotional Sophie Pascoe of New Zealand reacts after winning the women’s S9 100m freestyle final.
Dame Sophie Pascoe now has a handful of Commonwealth Games gold medals.
The New Zealand para swimming superstar won her fifth Commonwealth Games gold in the women’s S9 100m freestyle in Birmingham on Saturday morning (NZ time).
The 29-year-old swam to victory in a time of one minute 02.95 seconds in the only event she will contest at the Games, with fellow New Zealander and backstroke specialist Tupou Neifui eighth.
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Dame Sophie Pascoe, right, won gold for New Zealand in the women’s S9 100m freestyle final on day one of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games at Sandwell Aquatics Centre.
There was also a silver medal for NZ para swimmer Jesse Reynolds in the men’s S9 100m backstroke final. It was Reynold’s first Commonwealth Games medal after he narrowly missed bronze twice in 2018 in the Gold Coast.
Pascoe entered the final as the fastest qualifier by almost a second and was a cut above in the final, winning by 0.79s from Australia’s Emily Beecroft.
The youngest Dame in New Zealand history had a patchy buildup to Birmingham after catching Covid-19 last month and the recent death of her nana, and the star looked on the verge of tears in the pool after her triumph.
Pascoe was also working with new coach Brett Naylor after ending her hugely successful combination with Roly Crichton earlier this year.
She also has 11 Paralympic gold medals and 18 in total as she eyes a swansong in Paris in 2024.
The Christchurch-based swimmer had her left leg amputated below the knee as a two-year-old after a lawnmower accident.
Earlier, NZ teenager Erika Fairweather finished fifth in the women’s 200m freestyle final in a time of 1:57.08, 3.19 seconds behind expected gold medal winner Ariarne Titmus of Australia.
Fellow Kiwi, Mya Rasmussen, was seventh in the women’s 400m Individual Medley and NZ’s Joshua Willmer seventh in Reynolds’ final.
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