Tai, Clegg and Ellard all win gold within 40 minutes

Alice Tai won her first individual Paralympic title as Great Britain's swimmers claimed three gold medals within 40 sensational minutes on Saturday.

Tai won the S8 100m backstroke shortly after Stephen Clegg and William Ellard set world records to triumph in their events.

The 25-year-old missed the Tokyo Games in 2021 because of injury and had her right leg amputated below the knee in 2022 because of increasing pain and discomfort.

Tai, who said the amputation had been "a great thing" for her, won in a Paralympic record time of one minute 09.06 seconds.

Clegg, 28, took his first Paralympic gold medal as he stormed to victory in the S12 100m backstroke final in 59.02 seconds.

Ellard, 18, won the S14 200m freestyle in one minute 51.30 seconds, more than a second faster than the previous record, which he shared with fellow Briton Reece Dunn.

It is Ellard's second medal of the Games after he took silver in the S14 100m butterfly on Thursday.

And Poppy Maskill secured silver and Louise Fiddes bronze in the S14 women's 200m freestyle.

That is also a second medal for Maskill, who won over 100m on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the youngest member of the ParalympicsGB squad, 13-year-old Iona Winnifrith, set a European record of three minutes 03.25 seconds as she came fourth in the SM7 200m individual medley.

Tai's gold never seemed in doubt as she utterly dominated her race, winning by nearly six seconds from silver medallist Viktoriia Ishchiulova, a Russian competing as a Neutral Paralympic Athlete, with Germany's Mira Jeanne Maack taking bronze.

It comes after a testing few years, with an elbow problem keeping Tai out of the previous Games in Tokyo shortly before she decided to have an amputation on her right leg to improve her quality of life.

"The last three years has been kind of crazy," she said. "I've had six surgeries on three different limbs over the course of two and a half years, and a lot has happened in my personal life. Just being here, I feel like I've made myself proud and made everyone supporting me proud.

"It's not been the easiest few years so to come here and swim a time I'm really, really happy with means so much, and for that to get me my first individual gold at the Paralympics is super, super special."

Her only previous Paralympic gold was in the 4x100m medley relay 34 points at Rio 2016, where she got a bronze in the S10 100m backstroke.

Tai, who was born with club feet and had multiple surgeries as a youngster, is competing in five events in Paris with the SM8 200m individual medley next on the agenda on Sunday.

Clegg, who has a visual impairment, came to Paris hoping to deal with "unfinished business" by winning Paralympic gold, having taken a silver and two bronzes in Tokyo in 2021.

He did so in style, finishing 1.65 seconds ahead of Raman Salei of Azerbaijan, who won the event in Tokyo, with Ukraine's Yaroslav Denysenko getting the bronze.

"I got the monkey off the back," he said.

"As soon as I touched that wall in Tokyo, I wanted it more than ever. Going into Tokyo I had the plan of retiring if I'd won and that didn't happen.

"Three years have been spent revising my approach to the sport and rediscovering my love for the sport. It's got me to here and now I can look back and be grateful almost for that second place in Tokyo.

"If I didn't finish second I might not be here today and breaking world records is an incredible thing."

Clegg is the third member of his family to have represented GB at a Paralympics, with elder sister Libby winning two golds and three silvers as an athlete across four Games and brother James claiming bronze in the pool in 2012.

Immediately after the final he was interviewed by Libby, who is working in Paris for Channel 4.

"I was very lucky to get to chat to her as soon as I got out of the pool," he said. "I was very emotional, I didn't know what to say and I was kind of speechless and it was a bit awkward because it was on live TV. I felt like a bit of a bumbling idiot. I can't wait to be able to see her and give her a hug."

Clegg has two more events to come in Paris – the S12 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly, with the latter event his main focus.

In between the wins for Clegg and Tai, Ellard charged to his own gold in another world record.

He finished more than two seconds ahead of Canadian silver medallist Nicholas Bennett with Australia's Jack Ireland taking the bronze.

Ellard dedicated his victory to his late grandmother Sue Tipple, who died in 2020.

"The last 25 I knew I'd won it, just having my family behind me and my nan in the back of my head, doing it for her," he said.

"She was my biggest supporter when I was swimming. The last message she sent to me on WhatsApp was: 'I'll see you in Paris 2024'.

"She'd have my medals up around her house when I went around there when she was still alive and my grandad will be watching at home.

"I know she will be up there somewhere watching me."

With a gold and silver already secured, he still has two more events to come at these Paralympics, the 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.

During that incredible opening to Saturday evening's programme for Britain, Maskill and Giddes added to the medal tally in the S14 200m freestyle final.

Maskill, 19, was the fastest qualifier in the morning's heats but was beaten to gold by Tokyo 2020 champion Valeriia Shabalina, another Russian competing as a Neutral Paralympic Athlete.

Shabalina won in two minutes 05.10 seconds, with Maskill clocking 2:07.16 and 23-year-old Fiddes 2:07.91. Fellow Briton Olivia Newman-Baronius, 17, was half a second back in fourth.

Three days into the Games, Britain now have 11 medals in the pool, seven of them gold.

Winnifrith, who only became a teenager in April, is hoping to win one of her own later in the Games, having just missed out on Saturday.

With the 100m breaststroke and 50m butterfly still to come, she said: "Obviously fourth is a little bit disappointing but I am still really happy. I didn't have any expectations, this is just a warm-up for me so to do that time is really good.

"I am just hoping for a massive PB and hopefully gold in the breaststroke, that would be really cool."

Scarlett Humphrey, 19, was seventh in the S11 50m freestyle final in 30.85 seconds as China's Ma Jia won gold with a world record of 28.96.

Meanwhile, Briton Suzanna Hext posted on Instagram to say she pulled out of the Games on Friday after suffering a concussion in a training accident earlier in the week.

Hext said: "Nothing makes sense right now… it feels like I’ve just woken up from a bad dream, and hurts so badly. I’m absolutely heartbroken, devastated, empty, angry, and just questioning ‘why me?'."