However, at the point of passing the mark, ParalympicsGB were still far behind the number of gold medals won in Beijing.

In China, they won 42 golds, but the host nation has currently claimed only 31 in London, one behind Russia. 

Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, who set the medal target, said: "To win at least 103 medals is a fantastic achievement, particularly when you consider Paralympic sport is becoming hugely competitive with more nations investing significant resources in success.

"UK Sport's Mission 2012 process, through which we track how the athletes and the system within each sport is performing, gave us confidence that the Paralympic sports could deliver on this scale in London.

"It's been fantastic to witness and celebrate the medals being won.

"These Games really do demonstrate the power of Paralympic sport to change lives and I am proud of UK Sport's role in driving the development of our performance system to ensure these remarkable athletes have the opportunity to fulfil their enormous potential."

The medal milestone was passed here tonight by swimmer Heather Frederiksen (pictured below) who took silver (medal pictured top) in the S8 100m freestyle.


Moments before Frederiksen's silver, Susie Rodgers grabbed Britain's 100th medal when she took bronze in the 400m freestyle S7 event.

Another key part of the British target is to finish second and consolidate the position they have held in the medal table for the last three Games.

That target, however, has been compromised by some surprise defeats, such as Tom Aggar's failure to win gold in the adaptive rowing, suffering his first ever defeat in international competition last weekend.

And Lee Pearson (pictured below) has been beaten twice at his two individual equestrian events – prior to these Games he had won gold in every single event entered at the last three Paralympics.

"I am delighted that we have succeeded in this aim with three days of competition still to go," said ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission Craig Hunter.

"It is testament to the talent, dedication and skill of the athletes who make up the team as well as to their support staff and to the funding we receive from the National Lottery and commercial partners.

"The final target remains to finish second overall in the medal table.


"We know that this will be a close run thing with three more days to go.

"As we predicted, China has proven to be untouchable at the head of the table.

"Russia are proving to be very powerful as are the USA, Ukraine, Australia and other nations who are all still in the mix."

ParalympicsGB has also won more medals across more sports than they did in Beijing four years' ago, another of their targets for London 2012.

So far medals have been won in archery (poictured below, Danielle Brown, right, and Mel Clarke, left, with their gold and silver medals in the women's individual compound), athletics, boccia, cycling, equestrian, judo, powerlifting, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis and wheelchair tennis – a total of 13 sports compared to 11 in Beijing.


Hugh Robertson, the British Minister for Sport and Olympics, hailed the performance and said the country's Paralympians had made the nation proud.

"ParalympicsGB have performed superbly to better the medal count from Beijing on home soil.

"They have made the nation proud with some inspirational displays at the highest level in sport.

"With funding already secured for Paralympics GB in the run up to Rio I am confident that disability sport in this country will go from strength to strength."

Predictably, China dominate the medal count with 70 gold medals, more than twice as many as their nearest rivals, and 183 medals in total.

Ukraine are fourth in the table at present with 27 gold medals, and Australia fifth with 25.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
September 2012: ParalympicsGB chief admits to "challenging first few days" at London 2012
August 2012: Strong British performance is vital for successful Paralympics, declares IPC President
August 2012: British Paralympians set a target of 103 medals at London 2012