Austin becomes Paralympic champion with Gold in 50m Fly; Weggemann Wins Silver in 50m Fly

Three-time Paralympian Evan Austin celebrates an emotional victory that echoed through the stands as the 28-year-old won his first career gold medal in the 50-meter butterfly S7 in a time of 28.98 at Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

 

Austin’s fist slammed into the water with pure joy and excitement as he defeated Andrii Trusov from Ukrain in second (29.03) to earn his second career Paralympic medal. After placing sixth in

four events spanning the last two Paralympic Games at Rio 2016 and London 2012, Austin won his first medal with a bronze finish in the 400 freestyle S7 in Tokyo.

Three-time Paralympian Mallory Weggemann won silver in the women's 50 butterfly S7, touching the wall at 34.30, which only trailed a new world record time of 32.99 from Danielle Dorris of Canada. In an impressive reach down the stretch, Weggemann topped the third-place finisher, Giulia Terzi from Italy (34.32), by two-hundredths of a second.

Weggemann also won a pair of gold medals in the women's 100 back S7 and 200 IM SM7 at the Tokyo Games en route to becoming a five-time Paralympic medalist.