Danielle Dorris smashes world record en route to gold at Paralympic Games

Eighteen-year-old Danielle Dorris of Moncton produced the first-ever sub 33-second time in the women’s 50m butterfly S7 on Friday to win Canada’s fourth gold medal at the Paralympic Games.

Dorris was nearly a body length ahead of the field after she emerged from her underwater start and clocked a world record 32.99 seconds. Mallory Weggemann of the U.S. was second in 34.30 and Giulia Terzi of Italy third in 34.32.

In the morning heats, Dorris broke the nine-year-old world record clocking 33.51.Weggemann had set the standard at 33.81 back in 2012.

The youngest member of Canada’s Rio 2016 team at 13 years old, Dorris also took silver in the 100m backstroke at the Tokyo Games. 

It was Canada’s 19th medal of the Games (four gold, 10 silver, five bronze) and the eighth in the pool which matches Canada’s Para swimming total from Rio.