Day eight of competition will see both Natalie du Toit of South Africa and Erin Popovich of the United States going for their fifth Swimming gold medals of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games in the National Aquatics Center.

Men's 50m Freestyle - S11 heat

Yang Bozun of China and Enhamed Enhamed of Spain came up against each other once again, this time Yang, 26.52 seconds with a tiny qualifying margin over Enhamed, 26.66s.

Junichi Kawai of Japan holds the Paralympic record in this event, 26.37s, but Kawai qualified with 27.76s, placing him eighth going into the heats.

Women's 50m Freestyle - S11 heat

Chantal Cavin of Switzerland has the fastest qualification time of 32:64s. Cavin is swimming in the second of her two events in Beijing and will be hoping for a better performance after she just missed out on a medal in the Women's 100m Freestyle - S11.

World and Paralympic record holder Fabiana Sugimori of Brazil qualified fourth with 33.01s.

Maria Poiani Panigati of Italy qualified second fastest in 32.65s and her compatriot Cecilia Camellini, who took silver in the Women's 100m Freestyle - S11, qualified third with 32.67s.

Men's 50m Freestyle - S12 heat

World and Paralympic record holder, Maksym Veraksa of Ukraine will be looking to break his own world record and clinch the gold, qualifying on top with 23.90s.

Sergii Klippert of Ukraine, who has collected two silvers and three bronzes so far, looks like he is on for another medal in this event, qualifying in second with 25.15s.

Alexander Nevolin-Svetov of Russia is also a big threat to both Veraksa and Klippert qualifying third in 25.21s.

Women's 50m Freestyle - S12 heat

Oxana Savchenko of Russia has the best qualification time of 27.82s and already has two golds.

Joanna Mendak of Poland has twice taken a lower position than Savechenko on the podium and today may see a similar result as she qualifies in second place with 28.49s.

Anna Efimenko of Russia will put the pressure on Savechenko and Mendak qualifying close behind with 28.75s.

Men's 150m IM - SM4 heat

Paralympic record holder Vicente Javier Torres of Spain has the fastest qualification time in this event with 2:41.22.

Miguel Luque of Spain has picked up a bronze already this week and swims with the second fastest qualifying time of 2:42.38.

Women's 150m IM - SM4 final

Eight competitors will go directly to the final with Karina Lauridsen of Denmark qualifying highest, over half a minute faster than her nearest challenger with 2:53.20.

Aimee Bruder of the United States enters the final with the second fastest time of 3:28.00.

Men's 400m Freestyle - S6 heat

World and Paralympic record holder Anders Olsson of Sweden goes into the heats confidently with his time of 4:48.57.

Matt Whorwood of Great Britain has the second best qualification time, 5:21.60.

Adriano Lima of Brazil qualified third with 5:26.09.

Women's 400m Freestyle - S6 heat

Thirteen-year-old Eleanor Simmonds of Great Britain is proving there is no need for her to wait until London 2012 to shine, qualifying fastest with 5:48.26, the world record time.

Just behind Simmonds is teammate Nyree Lewis in second with 5:48.71.

Mirjam de Koning-Peper of the Netherlands will also be going for another Paralympic medal as she qualified third with 5:57.68.

Men's 100m Backstroke - S13 heat

Defending Paralympic champion and world record holder, Charalampos Taiganidis of Greece, qualified first with 1:00.91.

Brian Hill of Canada will be going for his first medal of the Games, qualifying second fastest in 1:04.19.

Oleksii Fedyna of Ukraine qualified in third, 1:04.61.

Women's 100m Backstroke - S13 heat

Valerie Grand Maison of Canada already has three golds and a bronze and qualifies first with 1:10.58.

Grand Maison and Chelsey Gotell, also from Canada, have not yet left a race without a medal and this event may produce similar results with Gotell's time, 1:11.37, placing her second in the heats.

Anna Efimenko of Russia also has two silvers already this week and qualified third, t 1:11.96. However, Efimenko will be swimming in two morning heats, so this will be a test of her endurance.

Men's 50m Freestyle - S7 heat

David Roberts of Great Britain celebrated his tenth Paralympic gold medal on Thursday and plans to keep going. Roberts is the world and Paralympic record holder and enters the heat at the top with 27.67 seconds.

Matt Walker of Great Britain qualifies in second with 28.54s and Lantz Lamback of United States in third, 29.19s.

Women's 50m Freestyle - S7 heat

Kirsten Bruhn of Germany has the world record time in this event and qualifies with 33.77s. Bruhn already has one gold, one silver and two bronzes from this week.

Erin Popovich of the United States will be reluctant to give up her title and Paralympic record from Athens 2004 and qualified in second with 34.24s.

Cortney Jordan of United States has been consistently putting the pressure on strong swimmers Bruhn and Popovich and qualified third with 35.67s.

Men's 50m Freestyle - S8 heat

World and Paralympic record holder, Wang Xiaofu of China makes another appearance, his final individual event, in which he qualifies highest with 26.83s.

Team mates Ben Austin and Peter Leek of Australia will be challenging Wang for the gold, qualifying in second and third with little to separate their times, 27.39s and 27.74s respectively.

Women's 50m Freestyle - S8 heat

Jessica Long of the United States will be competing in her last event at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. So far she has four golds, one silver and a bronze and qualifies with the fastest time of 31.73s. Long has the world record of 31.51s within her grasp.

Cecilie Drabsch Norland of Norway and Heather Frederiksen of Great Britain qualify with the identical time of 32.36s.

Men's 50m Freestyle - S9 heat

A huge number of swimmers will be competing in the heats for the eight Final places.

Among the 23 swimmers, Matthew Cowdrey of Australia is the world record holder and has a slight edge over his competitors qualifying with a time of 25.50 seconds.

Much of the field have incredibly close times and they will all be fighting for a medal, particularly China's Guo Zhi and Xiong Xiaoming who qualify second and third with 26.24s and 26.37s.

Women's 50m Freestyle - S9 heat

World and Paralympic record holder, Natalie Du Toit of South Africa enters the heats with the world record time of 29.04s. Du Toit will be going for her fifth and final gold of the Games.

Du Toit, who admits she is not a sprinter and usually has a wide margin between herself and her competitors, should be most worried about Annabelle Williams of Australia who qualified a close second with 29.71s.

Men's 50m Freestyle - S10 heat

Andre Brasil of Brazil has the fastest qualification time of 23.90s.

Defending Paralympic champion Benoit Huot of Canada qualified in second place with 24.84s.

Phelipe Rodrigues of Brazil is third with 25.10s.

Women's 50m Freestyle - S10 heat

Anne Polinario of Canada is the defending champion in this event and will be challenging for gold again, qualifying top with 28.49s.

Anna Eames of the United States already has a gold and bronze from this week and qualified second fastest with 28.88s.

Eames teammate Ashley Owens, who took gold in the Women's 100m Freestyle - S10, will be hoping to perform well again in the shorter distance and qualified third, 29.36s.

(BOCOG September 14, 2008)