Paris 2024 Paralympic Games highlights of 3 September: Wang Ziying makes history, Omara Durand Elias remains dominant and Catherine Debrunner wins third gold medal of Paris 2024

Day six of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on Tuesday, 3 September featured a ful day of competition highlighted by the continued dominance of Omara Durand Elias of Cuba in Para athletics, Christie Raleigh-Crossley of the United States setting a Paralympic record in Para swimming and Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland winning her third gold medal of Paris 2024.

The day also saw the quarterfinals of men’s wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, and pool play in sitting volleyball, amongst other exciting action across Paris.

Moment of the day: Omara Durand Elias captures ninth Paralympic gold medal

In her fifth and final Paralympics, Omara Durand Elias of Cuba continued her dominance in Para athletics by winning her fourth successive women’s 400m T12 or T13 title in decisive fashion at Stade de France. After failing to reach the podium in her Paralympics debut at Beijing 2008, the 32 year old has won nine golds since and still has two events remaining at Paris 2024. She will be retiring at the Games conclusion.

“I am a fulfilled athlete. It has been a beautiful story. Now I will run the 100m and the 200m (T12) and get the other two gold medals,” Durand Elias said. “I hang my medals in different places, some are at my mum’s house, some are at my house, some I just store somewhere, because there are a lot of them. This one will be in my living room.”

Medal of the day: Christie Raleigh-Crossley sets Paralympic record in women's 100m backstroke S9

Christie Raleigh-Crossley of the United States swam a strong race en route to capturing the gold medal in the Para swimming women's 100m backstroke S9 and setting a Paralympics record in the process. The 37 year old finished the race in 1:07:92, breaking the previous record set by Ellie Cole of ParalympicsGB at Rio 2016. The victory marks her second medal of Paris 2024 after winning silver in the women’s 50m Freestyle S10.

"It's something I've dreamed of. I don't know if I've even dreamt of a gold medal. I've definitely dreamt of, you know, being on Team USA and watching those colours rise. I don't think that I ever thought it would be an individual (gold),” she said. “I'm going to lose it on the podium later. I know I'm going to bawl like a little kid listening to the anthem. But, yeah, I feel like I made my kids proud, and that's all I really wanted."

Quote of the day: Wang Ziying becomes first Chinese player to reach wheelchair tennis Paralympic semifinals

With a 6-2, 6-3 win over Angélica Bernal of Colombia at Roland-Garros Stadium on Tuesday, Wang Ziying of the People’s Republic of China became the first Chinese athlete to ever advance into a Paralympic wheelchair tennis semi-final. In fact, four Chinese women competed in Tuesday's singles quarter-finals, but only Wang advanced. The 26 year old had previously made it to the quarter-finals of this same event at Tokyo 2020.

“When I first picked up wheelchair tennis, I had a dream of competing at the Paralympic Games and making the podium. I was still young, and didn’t have the guts to aim too high. Now, I’m almost there, so it makes me feel quite confident in myself,” Wang said. "After I started playing, this became something I was accomplished in, and I felt like this is something I could do better than able-bodied people. It made me a more cheerful person, allowed me to travel the globe and opened my eyes to this beautiful world.”

Results of the day: Catherine Debrunner takes home another gold at Paris 2024 after winning women's 1500m T54 final, while Yovanni Philippe made history for Mauritius

Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland added to her prolific achievements at Paris 2024 by winning a third gold medal of the Games, this time in the Para athletics women's 1500m T54 final by setting a Paralympics record. The 29 year old completed the race in 3:13:10, nearly three seconds faster than silver medalist Samantha Kinghorn of ParalympicsGB and nearly six seconds faster than the previous Paralympics record set by Susannah Scaroni of the United States earlier in the Games.

“It’s not the easiest track. It feels to me that every additional race I do, the more comfortable I feel on it. We think it’s because it’s such a new track, it’s a bit chewy and you need to put in quite a lot of effort to reach high speed. But I am happy with how it went,” Debrunner said.

It was an equally joyous day day for Mauritius' Yovanni Philippe, who made history by becoming the first athlete from his island nation to win a medal at the Paralympic Games. He took bronze in the men's 400m T20 final, sprinting from behind to cross the finish line in third place.

“It’s a great feeling to have a medal at my first Paralympics," said Philippe. "I am very proud of myself. I prepared well to come here in Paris ready." He added, “It’s a big thing. A Paralympic medal is a big thing for Mauritius.”