■Paris Paralympics (5th Japan time)

In the women’s 100m freestyle swimming event (S12, low vision), female ace Ayano Tsujiuchi (27, Mitsubishi Corporation) won the bronze medal. High school student Aira Kinoshita (18, Mitsubishi Corporation) also won the bronze medal in the 200m individual medley (intellectual disability).

Tsujiuchi, in lane 5, was in 6th place at the halfway point but improved his position in the second half and finished in 3rd place with a time of 1 minute 1.05 seconds, marking his first podium in his second Paralympics.

Born into a swimming family, with his father as a swimming school coach and his mother having competed in national championships, he started swimming in the third grade of elementary school. After entering university, his eyesight deteriorated, and he started para swimming in 2017. He competed in the Tokyo Games in the S13 class, but due to the progression of his illness, he changed classes for this year’s tournament.

Tsujinai reflected, “My body wasn’t moving the way I wanted to in the first half, so I started off a little slow, but I didn’t get discouraged and I was able to turn it around and do well, so I think that was good.I was the stronger team in the second half, so I was able to stay confident.”

Kinoshita, who competed in the 200m individual medley, gradually improved his ranking and won the bronze medal (2 minutes 25.96 seconds). He started competing at the age of 15, and won the silver medal in the 200m individual medley at the World Para Swimming Championships the following year (2023). Although he was unable to achieve his goal of “breaking his personal best and winning the gold medal” at this tournament, he still managed to win a medal in his first Paralympics.

After finishing the race, Kinoshita expressed his joy, saying, “It wasn’t my best, but I’m happy to have come from a poor performance to win a medal. (In the second half) I swam my hardest, thinking that this was my only chance for a medal.”

■ Ayano Tsujiuchi
Born October 5, 1996 in Tokyo. Graduated from Showa Gakuin High School.
He started swimming at the age of 9 and para swimming at the age of 21. His specialties are the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle.

■ Aira Kinoshita
Born August 11, 2006 in Osaka Prefecture. 3rd year student at Shijonawate Gakuen High School.
He began competing at the age of 15 in 2022 and won a silver medal in the 200m individual medley at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships. He will receive the Japan Para Sports Newcomer Award in 2024.