Winning run is halted as Miller and Greaves come up short

(AP)

Great Britain's gold rush came to a halt here yesterday as throwers Daniel Greaves and Stephen Miller were unsuccessful in the defence of their Paralympic titles. Having surpassed UK Sport's pre-Games target by moving to 41 golds on day eight, silver was the order of the day as Miller and swimmers Jim Anderson, Robert Welbourn and Fran Williamson finished second, while Greaves and Natalie Jones, in the pool, won bronze.

The first day without a gold left Britain four short of a century and second in the medal table behind China, but the athletics team are well adrift of their target of 30 medals. Wheelchair racer David Weir, who is still to contest the 1500m final and the marathon, remains the only British athlete to triumph.

Greaves and Miller were expected to retain the titles won in Athens but fell short. Miller had his 12-year unbeaten Paralympics run ended in his fourth Games. The 28-year-old Gateshead Harrier finished second in the men's F32/51 club throw with a best of 34.37 metres as Tunisia's Mourad Idoudi set a world record of 35.77m.

Miller, the champion in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, was outside the medals until his last throw. However, he was not too downbeat with his performance. "Silver is better than fourth, but obviously I wanted to win," he said.

Greaves became the first Paralympian to represent Britain in an able-bodied event when selected for the junior national team and expectations were high after he won discus silver in Sydney aged 17 and gold four years later in Greece. But the 25-year-old from Anstey, Leicestershire, could only take bronze in the men's F44 discus with a best throw of 53.04m, 2.08m behind gold medal winner Jeremy Campbell of the United States.

Anderson was also unsuccessful in defending the four titles he won in Athens at the National Aquatics Centre. The 45-year-old from Broxburn took silver in the men's S2 50m backstroke in one minute 04.33 seconds as Dmitry Kokarev triumphed in a world record of 1min 03.17secs.

Welbourn, from Lincolnshire, won silver in the men's S10 400m freestyle before Fran Williamson was second in the women's S3 50m freestyle. Natalie Jones added bronze in the women's S6 50m freestyle.

Fittingly David Roberts, who won three golds in Sydney and four in Athens, was involved in Britain's final event in the pool but the men's 4x100m medley relay team finished only fifth.