ELLIE SIMMONDS last night relinquished her grip on her favourite Paralympics event.
The popular 21-year-old won gold in the S6 400metre freestyle at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games.
But the swimming superstar was unable to achieve a hat-trick of titles in the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio.
As suspected, Simmonds came off second best in her duel in the pool with the dangerous Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Mereshko.
In an exciting showdown, cerebral palsy swimmer Mereshko, 24, produced a Paralympic record time of 5min 17.01sec while Simmonds had to settle for third place. Lingling Song of China won the silver.
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Simmonds will be back in action tomorrow in the heats for the SB6 100m breaststroke.
Her team-mate Ellie Robinson has been one of the emerging stars of these Games for the British squad.
And the 15-year-old Northamptonshire schoolgirl continued her impressive Games debut by coming home in a credible fourth behind Simmonds.
On the track, HOLLIE ARNOLD set a world record of 43.01m in the javelin as she added the F46 Paralympic crown to her world title.
The 22-year-old said: “I’ve had about two to three months out this year with a shoulder injury but I’ve been working hard through rehab and trying to do as much as possible to be in the best possible shape.
“I worked really hard and was not going to let a little injury stop me.”
Newcastle athlete STEPHEN MILLER won his sixth medal from six Paralympics with a bronze in the F32-51 Club Throw.
Tennis duo JAMIE BURDEKIN and ANDY LAPTHORNE won bronze in the quad doubles after a record 4hr 25min epic clash with Israelis Itai Erenlib and Shraga Weinberg.
Burdekin said: “It nearly killed me. I was nearly dying in the first set.”
A day after Will Bayley shook up the table tennis world, ROB DAVIES emulated the feat by becoming the Class 1 Paralympic champion.
The 32-year-old Welshman beat South Korean Joo Young Dae 3-1 in the final at Riocentro.
Davies was a semi-pro rugby player but broke his neck in a collapsed scrum 11 years ago.
He said: “I have played him before and he has beaten me twice, but I had the confidence to come here and beat him when it mattered.
“I kept strong mentally today and I had all the squad behind me.
“My physio here as well has done a brilliant job keeping me fit so I could move well all over the table. I was feeling great.”
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