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Tokyo Paralympics: Chan Yui-lam caps Games debut with sixth-place finish in 100m backstroke final

  • The 17-year-old completes her third final after swimming in a staggering six events
  • The 2019 world championship bronze medallist was the Hong Kong swimming team’s best competitor throughout

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Chan Yui-lam, a 2019 world championships gold medallist, completes her third final after swimming in a staggering six events on her Paralympic Games debut. Photo: Hong Kong Paralympic Committee
Hong Kong swimmer Chan Yui-lam closed her promising Paralympics debut by finishing sixth in the Tokyo 2020 Games women’s 100m backstroke S14 final.
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The 17-year-old came home in one minute, 12.49 seconds, eight-hundredths of a second faster than her third-place finish in the morning qualifying heat at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

Great Britain’s Bethany Firth easily claimed gold in a time of 1:05.92, still far off from her world and Paralympics record of 1:04.05 set at the Rio 2016 Games. Chan’s idol, Briton Jessica-Jane Applegate, finished with a bronze as Valeriia Shabalina of the Russian Paralympic Committee sealed her first silver of the Games having already won a staggering three golds.

Though she returns to Hong Kong without a medal, Chan will be pleased with her performances throughout.

Highlights include a fourth-place finish in her specialised 100m butterfly final, before she helped Tang Wai-lok, Cheung Ho-ying and Hui Ka-chun to fifth in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay last week.

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The 2018 Asian Para Games 100m butterfly gold medallist and 2019 world championships bronze medal-winner did not swim beyond the heats in the 100m backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and 200m individual medley.

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