By Canadian Press

Canadian Paralympians double up on silver, still search for gold in Paris after Day 4

Sep 1, 2024 | 3:10 PM

PARIS — Canada doubled up on silver for a second consecutive day at the Paralympics, but is still in search of its first gold after Day 4.

Aurelie Rivard got her second medal in Paris in the pool, while wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos earned Canada’s first para athletics medal on the track. Canada’s first four medals were bronze before the run of four straight silvers.

Rivard, who was born with an underdeveloped left hand, fell just short of a third consecutive gold medal in the women’s S10 100-metre freestyle and took silver.

The 28-year-old from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., was out-touched in a duel to the wall with Frenchwoman Emeline Pierre, to the roars of host-country fans at La Defense Arena.

Fourth at the turn, Rivard’s time of one minute .82 seconds was off her world record of 58.14 seconds set three years ago in Tokyo, and just over three tenths of a second back of Pierre.

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“I should have done a much faster race time-wise, so that’s where I’m a lot more disappointed than the medal,” Rivard said. “I really died in the last 15 metres.

“It’s hard to be sad while being here with the crowd. I also love to see that people are just as excited for Paralympic sport as they were for the Olympics, especially in France.

“It’s never going to be a negative thing having so much noise, so much people.”

Rivard collected her 12th career Paralympic medal and second in Paris after a 50-metre freestyle bronze to open the meet.

“That’s pretty cool,” Rivard said. “My first Paralympics were 12 years ago. I never thought that I’d reach that amount of medals. I can’t be disappointed about that.”

Lakatos, a 44-year-old from Dorval, Que., also won his 12th career Paralympic medal in his fifth Games on Sunday at Stade de France.

He finished with a season-best time of 47.24 seconds in the men’s T53 400-metre final behind Paralympic and world-record holder Pongsakorn Paeyo of Thailand who struck gold in 46.77 seconds.

“At the end of the corner, he was slowing down and I could sense that I was going at the same speed,” Lakatos said. “I was thinking down the final 100m, ‘I’m going to catch him, I’m going to catch him’. But the line came up too soon. It often does that in the 400m.

“He’s a really strong starter and a really good competitor. I think my best shot will be in the 800m.”

Lakatos, who was the leading qualifier in Heat 2 earlier Sunday with a then-season best of 49.04 seconds, had entered the Games having dealt with a rib injury this season.

“This is the first Games where I have had a serious injury coming in and so my preparation wasn’t perfect,” he said. “There were lots of questions in my head about whether I could do it, and what my form would be like. So I’m glad to say I can answer those questions. It’s going quite well so far.

“You’re always chasing the gold but a silver in those circumstances – I can’t complain too much about it.”

In women’s goalball, Canada tied South Korea 0-0 in Pool D preliminary action.

Peter Isherwood lost 3-1 to Poland’s Tomasz Jakimczuk in the round of 32 of para table tennis men’s MS2 singles action.

Canada’s wheelchair rugby squad earned a 56-46 win over Denmark in the placing playoff on Sunday. The Canadians finished group play with a 1-2 record on Saturday and now look ahead to playing for fifth place on Monday against host France.

Kyle Tremblay of Deep River, Ont., fell in the men’s individual compound open para archery quarterfinals to India’s Rakesh Kumar in a shoot off after tying 144-144.

In women’s preliminary wheelchair basketball action, Canada continued its winning ways by thumping Spain 81-49 in the final group game on Sunday.

Kady Dandeneau led the way with 36 points in 35 minutes of play. Arinn Young added 23 points, while Cindy Ouellet contributed another 14.

The Canadians were coming off a 63-54 win over Great Britain on Saturday after falling to China 70-65 in Friday’s opener.

“This is the best our team has felt in a long time,” Dandeneau said. “(I feel) a really good energy from everybody. Everyone is really locked into what we’re doing, what we’re trying to do.

“It’s really cool. It’s really nice to feel that from the team.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2024.

The Canadian Press