Aaron Moores Wins Rio Gold In Dramatic Finish

Aaron Moores continued the medal surge for Welsh-based athletes at the Rio Paralympics when he won gold in the pool in the 100m breaststroke.

It was a British 1-2 as Moores – who trains in Swansea, but hails from Wiltshire – beat training partner Scott Quinn in a dramatically tight finish to the SB14 final.

Moores took a clear lead at the halfway stage but Quin made relentless progress in the closing stages and looked to have edged ahead, only to slightly mistime his touch on the wall and lose by three hundredths of a second. Moores got the edge on his teammate to win in 1:06.67.

Moores, who has learning difficulties, said: “I can’t believe it. It’s a dream come true. I can’t wait to have the gold medal around my neck.

“Scott and I train so hard, and it shows in the fact we came top two in the world.”

GB stormed through the 40 gold medal mark on Wednesday night as the team’s successful campaign in Rio continued with victories for Hannah Cockroft, Michael Jones, Hannah Russell as well as Moores.

Cockroft had the privilege of winning Britain’s 40th gold with an imperious display in the final of the women’s T34 400m, where she came home more than two seconds clear.

The leading women’s wheelchair athlete was never troubled and set a new world record as she crossed the line in 58.78 seconds, metres clear of silver medallist Alexa Halko of the United States.

There was also a bronze medal in the same race for teen sensation Kare Adenegan who, at the age of only 15, had finished second behind Cockroft in the 100m final on Sunday.