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London - Brazil's Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveira stunned defending champion Oscar Pistorius to win the men's 200m T44 title at the Paralympic Games on Sunday.
South African Pistorius streaked into an early lead and was almost ten metres ahead as the athletes came into the closing straight.
The Brazilian, however, struck back in the closing stages to eat up the ground and surge past Pistorius in the final few metres to claim gold.
Oliveira finished with a time of 21.45 seconds, seven tenths of a second ahead of Pistorius (21.52) with American Blake Leeper (22.46) in third.
Fellow South African Arnu Fourie, a single leg amputee, finished fourth - setting a new T44 world record of 22.49 in his own category.
Earlier, swimmer Charles Bouwer pocketed his second medal at the Games, coming second in the 100m freestyle S13 final on Sunday evening.
With a gold medal already tucked away from the 50m freestyle S13, Bouwer was beaten by Ihar Boki of Belarus, who broke the world record for the second time in one day, touching in 51.91 seconds.
Bouwer was a second behind him in 52.97, followed by another Belarussian, Aleksandr Golintovskii, in 53.45.
"I knew from the beginning, when Boki went out so quickly this morning, that it was going to be a tough final for me," Bouwer said after the final. "I went out too slowly and if I’d just gone out half a second faster, I would have had the gold, because I came back really strongly.
"These things happen and I got a silver medal so I’m really happy." Bouwer would be back in the pool on Monday in the 100m backstroke S13 heats.
Earlier on the track, Hilton Langenhoven won his men’s 400m T12 heat and qualified fastest for Tuesday’s semi-finals clocking 49.86 seconds.
With each runner being visually impaired, two lanes were allocated to each runner in this event - one for the athlete and one for their guide.
South Africa now have ten medals - three gold , three silver and four bronze medals, and are in 19th position on the table with one more week of the Paralympics remaining.
South African Pistorius streaked into an early lead and was almost ten metres ahead as the athletes came into the closing straight.
The Brazilian, however, struck back in the closing stages to eat up the ground and surge past Pistorius in the final few metres to claim gold.
Oliveira finished with a time of 21.45 seconds, seven tenths of a second ahead of Pistorius (21.52) with American Blake Leeper (22.46) in third.
Fellow South African Arnu Fourie, a single leg amputee, finished fourth - setting a new T44 world record of 22.49 in his own category.
Earlier, swimmer Charles Bouwer pocketed his second medal at the Games, coming second in the 100m freestyle S13 final on Sunday evening.
With a gold medal already tucked away from the 50m freestyle S13, Bouwer was beaten by Ihar Boki of Belarus, who broke the world record for the second time in one day, touching in 51.91 seconds.
Bouwer was a second behind him in 52.97, followed by another Belarussian, Aleksandr Golintovskii, in 53.45.
"I knew from the beginning, when Boki went out so quickly this morning, that it was going to be a tough final for me," Bouwer said after the final. "I went out too slowly and if I’d just gone out half a second faster, I would have had the gold, because I came back really strongly.
"These things happen and I got a silver medal so I’m really happy." Bouwer would be back in the pool on Monday in the 100m backstroke S13 heats.
Earlier on the track, Hilton Langenhoven won his men’s 400m T12 heat and qualified fastest for Tuesday’s semi-finals clocking 49.86 seconds.
With each runner being visually impaired, two lanes were allocated to each runner in this event - one for the athlete and one for their guide.
South Africa now have ten medals - three gold , three silver and four bronze medals, and are in 19th position on the table with one more week of the Paralympics remaining.
