Japanese swimmer Mayumi Narita powered home to take gold in the women's 150-meter individual medley at the Sydney Paralympics on Friday, setting a world record of 2 minutes, 53.73 seconds at Sydney International Aquatic Center
The 30-year-old from Kanagawa Prefecture, whose arms survived paralysis from the neck down as a teenager after a mystery inflammatory disease of the spine, beat previous world record holder Kay Espenhayn of Germany into second place to claim Japan's second Paralympic gold medal in Sydney
It had been a grueling battle with friend and main rival Espenhayn in the backstroke and breaststroke legs until Narita powered home in the freestyle leg to finish 3.25 seconds ahead of Espenhayn's old world mark
"If I had lost here today it would have been a waste of all the hard work I've put in since Atlanta. I'm really pleased to have finished in such a good time. I never thought I would make a new world record," said Narita.