2024 Paris Paralympic Games Moreton Bay coverage: Brenden Hall, Ricky Betar in the pool for heats

Image above: Morayfield's Paralympics swimmer Ricky Betar. Courtesy Martin Bellew/Swimming Australia

Morayfield's Ricky Betar outdid himself in the heats of the men's 100m backstroke S14 heats this evening, finishing with a time that earned him a well-deserved place in tomorrow morning's final.

Yesterday, he earned his first individual Paralympics medal, claiming bronze in the men's 200m Individual Medley S14.

Facing a strong field across three heats that included world record holder and fellow Aussie Benjamin Hance - who smashed his own record in heat three with a time of 56:52 - Betar finished with a time of 1:00.51 to qualify in fifth place for the final.

In the first of three races in which a total of 17 swimmers competed for one of eight places in the final, Betar was just 1.32 seconds behind heat favourite Mark Tompsett, of Great Brittan, who posted a time of 59.19.

He got off to a great start, touching second at the end of the first 50m, finishing 1.32 behind Tompsett at the end of the final lap.

Betar swims again in his final event of the Paris Paralympics at 3.04am AEST tomorrow.

Paris is his second Paralympics. In Tokyo three years ago, he won a silver medal with Australia’s mixed 4x100m freestyle relay S14 team.

In Tokyo he also qualified for the finals in the 200m freestyle S14 and 100m butterfly S14 and finished seventh and eighth respectively.

In the lead-up to the Paris Games, Betar was training twice daily at UniSC on the Sunshine Coast, under Paralympic Hub head coach Harley Connolly.

Brenden Hall swam valiantly in the last event of his Paris Paralympics campaign - the heats of the 100m men's butterfly S9.

The 31-year-old seven-time medalist was up against fellow Aussie Timothy Hodge in lane four.

Hall was the final swimmer to hit the wall at the end of the first 50, and touched at the end of the second 3.75 seconds behind winner Hodge, with a final time of 1.04.36.

While Hall didn't qualify for the finals, his swim was faster than in the heats in the same event at the Tokyo Paralympics, where he posted a time of 1.04.70.

Hall, who grew up in Petrie, went to Pine Rivers State High School and swam at Redcliffe, Lawnton and Burpengary, is competing at his fifth, and possibly last Paralympic Games.

He took bronze in the 400m men's freestyle S9 on Friday morning.

Hall was also one of Australia’s two flag bearers for the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony in Paris.