A Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) Para-swimming team won the first ever mixed 4x100 metres freestyle 49 points relay at the Paralympic Games at Tokyo 2020.

The RPC was fourth after the first leg from male swimmer Ilnur Garipov, before female swimmers Anna Krivshina and Daria Pikalova moved the team into third and then second.

Vladimir Sotnikov took the final leg which he completed in 54.45sec to overtake Brazil, who had led after the previous three legs.

The gold medallists finished the relay in 3min 53.79sec.

This was 1.16 seconds better than Brazil, who secured silver after opting to start with two male swimmers and finish with two females. Ukraine came third in 3:55.15.

All four members of the RPC team have vision impairments.

Garipov is a S11 swimmer, who switched to the sport from cross-country skiing at the age of 11 in his home city of Ufa after losing his vision.

The 21-year-old finished fifth in the second qualifying heat of the men's S11 50m freestyle.

Krivshina had already secured an individual medal at the Games with a silver in the women's S13 50m freestyle, but missed out on gold by just 0.24sec to Brazil's Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago.

Ilnur Garipov, Anna Krivshina, Daria Pikalova and Vladimir Sotnikov won gold in the mixed 4x100m freestyle 49 points relay ©Getty Images
Ilnur Garipov, Anna Krivshina, Daria Pikalova and Vladimir Sotnikov won gold in the mixed 4x100m freestyle 49 points relay ©Getty Images

She had broken the Paralympic record in the first qualifying heat with a time of 27.25sec, and bettered it in the final with 27.06, but Gomes Santiago finished in 26.82 to clinch the title.

Krivshina is the reigning European champion in the S13 50m freestyle after winning in Funchal in Portugal.

At the World Championships, the 25-year-old won that event at Glasgow 2015, and is a three-time champion in the S12 or S13 100m backstroke.

The relay success was Pikalova's fourth medal at Tokyo 2020.

She secured silver in the women’s S12 100m freestyle and S12 100m backstroke, as well as bronze in the S13 200m individual medley.

She missed out on the gold by just 0.12 and 0.32 seconds respectively in the two events in which she finished second.

Pikalova had previously won silver in the S12 100m butterfly at London 2012, on top of three bronze medals at that edition of the Paralympic Games.

The 27-year-old, the most senior member of the relay team, has won seven gold medals at the World Para Swimming World Championships, and triumphed in the S12 50m and 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke at the European Championships in Funchal in Portugal in May 2021.

The youngest member of the team is Sotnikov, who at the age of 17 had already earned a bronze in the men's S13 100m backstroke at Tokyo 2020.