Paralympic swimmers set 15 new records in Beijing

Paralympic swimmers set a total of 15 new world records on Sunday at the Water Cube aquatics center in Beijing.

Rudy Garcia Tolson of the United States set a new world record of 2 minutes 37.80 seconds in the men's 200m individual medley SM7 heat, and clinched the gold for the US in the finals, Xinhua reports.

Rudy's compatriot Amanda Everlove updated the world record in the women's 100m butterfly S8 heat, but failed to repeat her performance in the evening's final. Teammate Jessica Long came to the rescue, clinching the gold by a winning margin of 0.20 seconds over Everlove.

Du Jianping claimed the host country's first gold medal by winning the men's 100m freestyle S3 event, China Daily reports. The 25-year-old swimmer also set a new Paralympic record of 1:35.21 in the finals, shaving 5.87 seconds of the former world mark, Xinhua says.

Australia's Peter Leek won the men's 100m butterfly S8 competition and refreshed the world record twice.

In the women's 200m individual medley Miranda Uhl and Erin Popovich of the US each shattered world records in the SM6 and SM7 classes successively.

Four golds with four new records put the US to the top of medals tally after Sunday's competitions. Great Britain was second, and China third, Xinhua says.

The other eight new world records were set by Patricia Valle of Mexico, Tamas Sors of Hungary (twice), Dmitry Kokarev of Russia, Dzmitry Salei of Belarus, Daniel Dias of Britain, Teresa Maria Perales of Spain, and Du Toit Natalie of South Africa. Xinhua says.

The spectators of Sunday's swimming competitions praised the accessibility in the new aquatics center and said the Paralympics presented a chance for people to learn more about the physically challenged and their perseverance, China Daily writes.

Over 4,000 athletes are vying for the 472 gold medals on offer at the September 6-17 Paralympic Games.