Poland's 21-year-old Karolina Kucharczyk (pictured below) broke her own world record of 5.72 metres in the long jump F20 with five of her six efforts, the best of which saw her become the first woman to jump 6.00m, which she did exactly at her fifth attempt.

El Amin Chentouf of Morocco (pictured below, leading) also created athletics history in becoming the first man to break 14 minutes for the 5,000m T12 event, clocking 13min 53.76sec to take a huge chunk out of the mark of 14:24.02 Kenya's Henry Kirwa had set in winning gold in Beijing four years earlier.

Kirwa took bronze in a personal best of 14:20.76, with silver going to Abderrahim Zhiou of Tunisia, who clocked 14:19.97, also a personal best.

Four men ran inside the old world record, as Spain's Gustavo Nieves finished fourth in a European record of 14:22.93.


There were other world records on the night as Kenya's Samwel Kimani won the 1500m T11 title in 3:58.37 and Birgit Kober took the women's javelin F33/34/52/53 title with 27.03m, while Ireland's world record holder Michael McKillop had time for some Steve Ovett-like home straight celebrations as he ran away from the field in the 1,500m T37 final to finish six seconds clear in 4:08.11 and add that title to the 800m he had won earlier in the Games.

But if the last final of the night, the women's 400m T54, failed to produce a world record it nevertheless provided what was arguably the landmark performance of the session as Tatyana McFadden (pictured top), an extraordinary athlete with an extraordinary life story, finally earned Paralympic gold at her third attempt after earning silver and bronze at Athens 2004 and three silvers and a bronze in Beijing four years ago.

The 23-year-old from Clarksville, Maryland, was born in St Petersburg, Russia, with spina bifida which left her paralysed beneath the waist and she spent the first six years of her life in an orphanage, using her arms as her legs.

During a visit to the orphanage in 1994, Deborah McFadden, then commissioner for disabilities for the United States Health Department, noticed the abandoned girl and established an immediate connection with her, eventually taking her back to the US, where she embraced a new language, a new way of life and a new world of athletic opportunity.


Here tonight she had earned a winning margin by the halfway point from lane seven, finishing more than a second clear of her nearest challenger, Hongjiao Dong of China, in a personal best of 52.97sec.

This was McFadden's first Paralympic gold, but she does not plan for it to be her last as she now looks forward to an astonishing range of further challenges in the 100m,  800m, 1500m and the marathon – a schedule which has earned her the nickname Beast.

Yohan Blake eat your heart out...

Britain's Mickey Bushell (pictured below) provided home spectators in another 80,000-capacity crowd with an early reason to be cheerful following the previous evening's climactic 5,000m T54 victory by home athlete David Weir as he won the 100m T53 title in emphatic fashion.

The 22-year-old from Telford, who was born without seven vertebrae in his back, went one better than he had managed in Beijing four years earlier after establishing clear daylight between his wheelchair and those of his rivals before the halfway point.

He crossed the line in a Paralympic record of 14.75, marking the victory with an upward thrust of his right arm and an almighty roar.

In his wake, China's Yufei Zhao and Shiran Yu took silver and bronze, respectively, in 15.09 and 15.20.


The noise as Bushell accepted his gold medal was enormous, and the broad-shouldered young man was blowing with emotion as the sound reverberated.

The singing of the National Anthem was precise and tuneful as the many, many gathered families did their duty.

After these Games is gone, whichever football club eventually takes over the stadium, never will this stadium sound so civilised again...

Bushell had reason to be confident beforehand, given that he was the fastest qualifier, having won his morning heat in 14.86, and held the official world record of 14.47.

But the Briton still professed himself surprised at his achievement.

"It went better than I expected – I'm really happy with that," he said.

"It was all about winning tonight.


"Training has been going really well the past couple of weeks so I knew I was a big contender for the gold.

"The conditions on the day were perfect."

Bushell added that he had drawn huge heart from seeing Weir win gold the previous evening.

"I was bouncing off the walls in my hotel room as he crossed the finish line – that really inspired me."

British Chancellor George Osborne's (pictured above) habitual Cheshire-cat grin faded clean away as his introduction to the crowd as the medal-bestower for the men's 400m T38 was marked by a surly undertone of boos and jeers – and this from the gathering which had sung the National Anthem a little earlier with Sunday school  aplomb.

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