Australia set for record haul

Going for gold: Siobhan Paton has already won five

Australia is on course for its best Paralympics ever after breaking through the 100-medal barrier.

The host nation has already won 45 golds - two better than the team's tally in Atlanta.

Australia's best performance to date came at the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville games, when it took home 47 gold medals in an overall total of 143.

But with three days of competition still to go, it seems certain to surpass that achievement.

Seven world records

Swimmer Siobhan Paton, competing in her first Olympics, has been their outstanding performer so far - equalling team-mate Priya Cooper's record of winning five gold medals, set in Atlanta.

Paton, 17, has broken seven world records in the last week and goes for a sixth gold in the 50m freestyle on Saturday.

French swiming veteran Beatrice Hess won her fifth gold medal of the games on Thursday with a stunning performance in the 100m S5 freestyle.

The mild cerebral palsy sufferer came home in a world record time of 1 mins, 18.99secs to add to her wins in the 200m SM6 individual medley, 50m S5 butterfly, 200m S5 freestyle and 50m S5 backstroke.

Smashing

Nigeria's Monday Emoghavwe was another record breaker - twice smashing his own world mark within a 20-minute period in the powerlifting.

Emoghavwe had already done enough to win the gold medal, but chose to lift again - much to the delight of the crowd - and heaved 212.5kg.

Australia leads the medals table on day 11, with Britian moving up into second place ahead of Spain.