Anna Grimaldi the 19-year-old champion from Dunedin has taken home New Zealand’s first gold at the Rio Paralympics.
The stunned teenager was overcome by tears after a spectacular performance in the women’s T47 long jump final.
She came first, closely followed by Cuba’s Yundis Castillo, who took home silver, a mere 5cm ahead of Australia’s Carlee Beattie who claimed the bronze.
To top it off, Grimaldi leapt to first place a whopping 21 centimetres ahead of her own personal best.
Grimaldi added gold to to New Zealand’s medal tally and was shortly followed by sensational Rebecca Dubber who took home bronze in the 100m Backstroke S7 final.
Watch the inspirational and heartwarming video below.
Australia also added a gold to their medal tally courtesy of Lakeisha “Lucky” Patterson. The stellar athlete not only came first, but set a world record in the S8 400m freestyle – beating her own personal best by nearly 24 seconds, a huge achievement.
Lakeisha ‘Lucky’ Patterson and Australia’s first gold medal of the Paralympic Games. Congrats Lucky! #WeBelieve pic.twitter.com/S0rm0YlVra
— AUS Paralympic Team (@AUSParalympics) September 8, 2016
