On August 31, the fourth day of the Paris Paralympics, Keiichi Kimura (33) of Tokyo Gas won the gold medal in the men’s 50-meter freestyle swimming event (visually impaired S11) with a time of 25.98 seconds.

Originally from Shiga Prefecture, she is Japan’s star swimmer in the blind class. She has competed in five consecutive Olympic Games since Beijing in 2008, and came out on top in the 100m butterfly at the last Tokyo Olympic Games. This is her ninth medal overall, and her first victory in the 50m freestyle. She placed fourth overall in the preliminaries with a time of 26.74 seconds, but in the finals she swam powerfully to improve her time and beat strong foreign competitors. (Kyodo News)