Agripino dos Santos made a golden start in the first race of the Para-athletics, the men’s T11 5,000m, in the Stade de France.
The visually-impaired athlete stormed past his team-mate and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion Yeltsin Jacques to cross the line in a world-record time of 14 minutes 48.85 seconds. The race was so fast Jacques set a personal best to take bronze and Karasawa claimed an area record in silver.
In the second race of the day, GB’s Shaw blasted out of the blocks to qualify after a photo finish for the final of the men’s T12 100m (Saturday, 20:08 BST), where he will aim to upgrade the bronze medal he won at this year’s world championships.
The 24-year-old, who was making his Paralympics debut, landed just 0.01secs ahead of Brazil’s Kesley Teodoro.
“I’m really proud of myself for the journey I’ve been on,” said Shaw. “It’s almost sweeter that I only made the final by 100th because it just shows that I’ve really had to work for this.”
Rainbow-Cooper qualified fifth in the women’s T54 5,000m to reach the final at her first Paralympics.
“It’s 11 years of hard work and it’s all so worth it,” she said. “I’ve never raced in such a packed stadium and I’ve never heard so many people scream my name or just even the noise. It was incredible and it really helped when the pain kicked in on lap eight and nine.”
Read More: Paris Paralympics 2024: Brazil wins first Para-athletics gold on day two
