Nine of nine new Paralympic records set during qualification in Tokyo

It was a record-setting record-breaking qualification day at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

All six standing individual records were broken and three new mixed team records were set during the two sessions on the permanent range at Yumenoshima Park.

China’s He Zihao became the first compound man to ever top 700 points at the Paralympics for the 72-arrow qualifying round while reigning recurve men’s champion Gholamreza Rahimi of Iran got his title defence off to a fast start with pole position in Japan.

Zihao shot 705, 18 points more than the standing record and six clear of the rest of the field.

“It’s my first time at the Paralympics. I was extremely nervous. I’m still trying to adjust to the situation. I was focusing on shooting and, honestly, I’m still in that mindset,” he said, though he hadn’t realised his score was a new best at the Games. “Wow! I’m glad. I’m really happy. My mother actually shot a world record so I feel like I’m, to some extent, tied with her.”

(Zihao’s mother, Li Xin, was on China’s international shooting team in the 1980s.)

Rahimi put seven points on his Iranian teammate’s record of 637 from Rio with 644 points.

“I thought I would do better. I was better in training in Iran,” he said. “The elimination matches are more important. In Rio, I qualified fifth and, later on, won gold.”

This afternoon’s records join a flurry of huge results from the morning qualification session, combining for an incredible nine new Paralympic records set in Tokyo – and one world record, too.

Here’s the full list of Paralympic records broken today:

• Recurve men: Gholamreza Rahimi, Iran – 644 (+7)
• Recurve women: Wu Chunyan, China – 642 (+5)
• Recurve mixed team:  China – 1281 (new record)
• Compound men: He Zihao, China – 705 (+18)
• Compound women: Jess Stretton, Great Britain – 695 (+21)
• Compound mixed team:  China – 1388 (new record)
• W1 men: Nihat Turkmenoglu, Turkey – 661 (+13)
• W1 women: Chen Minyi, China – 640 (+6)
• W1 mixed team:  China – 1290 (+4 on world record)

This is the first Paralympics at which qualification records are recognised in the mixed team events as these were only officially introduced in 2018, two years after the last Games.

Further records are available during compound and W1 matchplay.

Competition continues at the Paralympics with early eliminations in the compound men’s event and the medal matches in the W1 mixed team competition on Saturday 28 August 2021.