BELGIUM’s Michèle George (BEL) showed her enduring class as she won her sixth Paralympic gold medal on Best of 8 at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old, who won double individual gold at Tokyo 2020, finished well clear with a superb score of 76.692% to take her overall Paralympic medal tally to seven.

“I’m incredibly happy. She (Best of 8) was amazing. For me, it felt like a gold medal because I had nearly no mistakes and she was really dancing with me. I enjoyed every second of it. It means a lot.”

George will aim to repeat her Tokyo feat of winning both Individual Grade V golds in Saturday’s Individual Freestyle event.

“I really look forward to showing people how she can dance with our music, because she adores it,” she added.

Germany’s Regine Mispelkamp (GER), partnering Highlander Delight’s, added a silver medal to her individual Freestyle bronze from Tokyo, scoring 73.231%.

Britain’s Sophie Wells, partnering LJT Egebjerggards Samoa after her original horse Don Cara M was ruled out, won her ninth Paralympic medal by taking bronze – Britain’s third of these Games - with 72.257%, adding to her previous four golds and four silvers.

“It’s not ideal,” she said of her late change in horses. “But she was so brave going into that arena. She got a little bit nervous, but she is eight years old. I held her hand through the whole test. She listened to me and I couldn’t be prouder of her for that.”

Delight

For Ireland’s Sarah Slattery, it has been a quick road to her first Paralympic Games and she was on a high to finish in ninth place with the 17-year-old mare Savona. Slattery was unlucky early on as Savona took a small misstep which cost on the judges scores but the pair recovered well to score 68.410% and just missing out a place in the Freestyle.

Slattery commented: “I’m absolutely thrilled. It was amazing, we had a little stumble at the start but I recovered, she recovered and the test couldn’t have gone any better in my eyes.

“I’m thrilled with the test, thrilled with her – the two of us together, it was just super. Aside from that little blip, everything else was pretty perfect and it went just as well as it had in training and in our prep for this.”

With her baby daughter Millie watching on from the Kiss and Cry area in Slattery’s husband Jonathan’s arms and her older daughter Harlow in the stands, the result was that bit more special for the 34-year-old. “It was so emotional, so emotional,” added Slattery.

In Grade IV, Dutch rider Demi Haerkens confirmed her status as a rising star when she claimed Grade IV gold with Daula on her Paralympic Games.

The final set of individual medals will be decided today (Saturday).