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Dame Sophie Pascoe, right, won gold for New Zealand in the final of the Women’s S9 100m Freestyle on Day One of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre.
Dame Sophie Pascoe now has a handful of Commonwealth Games gold medals.
The New Zealand paraswimmer superstar won her fifth Commonwealth Games gold in the women’s S9 100m freestyle 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 compete at the Games, with compatriot and backstroke specialist Tupou Neifui in eighth.
There was also a silver medal for New Zealand para swimmer Jesse Reynolds in the final of the S9 Men’s 100m Backstroke. It was Reynold’s first Commonwealth Games medal after narrowly missing bronze twice in the Gold Coast in 2018.
Pascoe entered the final as the fastest qualifier by almost a second and was a cut higher in the final, beating Australia’s Emily Beecroft by 0.79s.
The youngest lady in New Zealand history had a patchy build-up to Birmingham after she contracted Covid-19 last month and her grandmother’s recent death, and the star was on the verge of tears in the pool after her triumph.
Pascoe also teamed up with new coach Brett Naylor after breaking up with her wildly successful pairing with Roly Crichton earlier this year.
She also has 11 Paralympic gold medals and 18 in total as she watches a swan song in Paris in 2024.
The Christchurch swimmer had her left leg amputated below the knee as a two-year-old after an accident with a lawnmower.
Previously, New Zealand 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 medalist Ariarne Titmus of Australia.
Fellow Kiwi, Mya Rasmussen, was seventh in the women’s 400m individual medley and New Zealand’s Joshua Willmer seventh in the Reynolds final.