New Zealand continues to perform way beyond what might be expected at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. The Paralympics is a sporting event in which physically disabled athletes are given the chance to compete against each other, mostly in the same events as normally-abled athletes at the Olympics.

Kiwi Liam Malone was a standout with his running at the athletics stadium, winning the 200m gold medal, which followed his 100m silver earlier in the week.

This made New Zealand seventh on the medal count, and first on the table that matches a countriy's medals with their population - the tiny country now has eight golds, five silvers and three bronze medals, in athletics, cycling and swimming.

Malone won the 200m race in a record time of 21.06 seconds, passing the time set by South Africa's Oscar Pistorius. Malone beat American Hunter Woodhall who took silver and German David Bahre who won bronze. Malone still has to run in his favourite event, the 400m, meaning that he could score a wonderful medal total for the three distances. The heats for the 400m are on Thursday and the final is on Friday morning.

Malone, like most Paralympic runners, uses what are called "blades" to run. He lost both his legs below the knee and so needs two blades, while other runners sometimes only need one blade. Like other runners, Malone's blades not only allow him to walk, but also to run - fast!

Blades store energy just like a spring so the athlete can run and jump. The blades are made from carbon fibre, a bendy material that is stiffer than steel, and around five times stronger. Over 80 layers of carbon fibre are required to make one running blade, and these need to be all made by hand. This means that blades are very expensive - a pair can cost around $5,000 USD.

However a runner wearing blades is able to win races in times that almost match a fully-abled runner, as shown by Malone at this year's Paralympics.