Swedish shooting great Jonas Jacobsson collected his 14th Paralympic gold medal on Monday as host China climbed to the top spot in the gold medal standings.

Second-placed the United States also piled up eight gold medals, but has a total of 17 medals against 28 won by the Chinese. Britain was third on the ladder with seven golds.

China, who topped the medals table with 63 golds in Athens 2004, is widely expected to defend its honor at the end of the 11-day sporting event for elite disabled athletes.

Jacobsson surpassed the eight-year-old world record by a huge margin Monday morning in the men's 10m air rifle standing position in his disability class, increasing his Paralympic medal tally to 14 gold, one silver and eight bronze medals.

His qualification score of 596 was three points better than the old mark by Jung Jin-won of South Korea at Sydney 2000. After 10 stunning final shots, Jacobsson beat the world record for the final - 697.1 - by 3.4 points, which was also set by Jung in Sydney.

Jacobsson, an eight-time Paralympian, earned more than 10 points, including a bull's eye 10.9, which rarely happens in either Paralympic or Olympic competitions.

"The main thing was to continue the streak. I've now won eight Paralympics in a row. That was the main goal, and hopefully I can get another good result here," said the 42-year-old veteran.

Jacobsson will compete in three other events - the men's 50m free rifle 3x40 standing SH1, the mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1 and the mixed 50m free rifle prone SH1.

"Every competition is a new one. You have to focus," he said. "Everybody starts at zero, and you have to shoot your own shots."

South Africa's Natalie du Toit was equally impressive as the 24-year-old amputee grabbed her second gold of the Games, winning the women's S9 100m freestyle final. She had won the 100m butterfly in her category on Day One in a world-record time of one minute 6.74 seconds.

Du Toit, who lost her lower left leg in a motorcycle accident in 2001, is bidding for five gold medals to match her gold tally at the Athens Paralympics.

"I'm going to have two days off... then come back and swim 50m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 200m individual medley," she said. "There's going to be some great races."

Du Toit, who finished 16th among 25 competitors in 10km marathon swim at last month's Olympics, and Polish table tennis player Natalia Partyka are the only athletes in Beijing who will appear in both the Olympics and Paralympics.

Also in the Water Cube, Wang Xiaofu, who led the Chinese Paralympic team into the Bird's Nest stadium on Saturday, bounced back from a shock defeat in the men's S8 100m butterfly to win the 100m freestyle.

"I am very excited because I lost the gold yesterday, but today I took it back," said Wang, a triple gold medalist in Athens 2004.

Elsewhere, China's Yao Juan was back on the top of podium, eight years after she won her first Paralympic gold medal in Sydney. The 24-year-old won the women's F42-46 javelin with a world record throw of 40.51 meters.

"I have always wanted to win back the gold medal, and I never gave it up," said Yao, who finished a distant fifth in Athens four years ago.

Yao's compatriot Guo Wei followed suit, taking the men's F35-26 javelin crown.

Lin Haiyan, 45, captured the first shooting gold for China by taking the women's SH1 10-meter air pistol, while visually impaired compatriot Wang Lijing prevailed in women's 57kg judo competition.

Athletes will compete over 11 days in 20 sports in five different categories of disability, with a total of 472 gold medals at stake.

The Paralympics end on Sept. 17.

(Xinhua News Agency September 8, 2008)