Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: Jessica Long shy of podium as Brock Whiston wins 200m Individual Medley SM8
Legendary US para swimmer Jessica Long fell just short of the podium at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in the women’s 200m medley SM8 on Sunday (1 September).
Instead, it was Great Britain’s Brock Whiston who won a tantalisingly tight race on the line in 2:40.37, ahead of Viktoriia Ishchiulova just 0.28 seconds behind and British compatriot Alice Tai winning bronze with 2:41.29.
Long, who has won 29 Paralympic medals of which 16 are gold, finished in fourth place with a time of 2:45.70.
It was a race dominated by the Brits, with world record holder Tai leading over the opening three legs and dominating her favoured backstroke.
But an exhausting race gave the rest of the field the chance to catch up, and the front crawl saw Tai, Whiston and Ishchiulova mere milliseconds apart. A race to the finish line was won by Whiston, just pipping Ishchiulova to gold with Tai claiming bronze.
Long finished five seconds behind the podium pack, as her hunt for a 30th Paralympic medal goes on. The American is competing at her sixth Paralympic Games, twenty years on from her remarkable debut at Athens 2004 where she won three golds aged just 12.
The 32-year-old is halfway through competition in Paris, as she now turns her attention to compete in the 400m freestyle S8 and the 100m butterfly S8 at these Games.
Women's 100m backstroke S8 – results
Gold – Brock Whiston (GBR) – 2:40.37
Silver – Viktoriia Ishchiulova (NPA) – 2:40.65
Bronze – Alice Tai (GBR) – 2:41.29