Paris 2024 Paralympics Day 5: Nicholas Bennett picks up Canada's first gold medal of the Games
Canada picked up three medals on Monday, including a gold in the pool.
Monday was the most successful day of the Paris 2024 Paralympics yet for Team Canada, with athletes picking up three medals including the nation’s first gold.
Nicholas Bennett was the first Canadian to stand atop the podium in Paris, winning the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14 event.
The 20-year-old was third after the first 50 metres, but on the second length of the pool he powered to first place to touch the wall first in a time of 1:03.98. It was the first gold medal of Bennett’s Paralympic career, and his second in total after taking silver in the men’s 200m freestyle S14 on Saturday.
Bennett’s emotional moment on the podium was made even more special by the fact that he received his gold medal from Canadian Paralympian Carla Qualtrough, who is currently Canada’s Minister of Sport and Physical Activity.
Canadians reached the finals of three other events on Monday, with Sabrina Duchesne finishing sixth in the women’s 400m freestyle S7, Nicolas-Guy Turbide finishing seventh in the men’s 50m freestyle S13, and the 4x100m medley relay team — featuring Shelby Newkirk, Fernando Lu, Katie Cosgriffe, and Reid Maxwell — finishing eighth. Nikita Ens and Aly Van Wyck-Smart both raced in the women’s 50m backstroke S3 heats in the morning, but neither advanced to the final.
Leanne Taylor became the first Canadian women to win a triathlon medal at the Paralympic Games, taking bronze in the wheelchair classification. Taylor, who entered the event ranked fourth in the world, was fourth after the swim and the bike portions of the race, but made up ground during the run, and finished in a time of 1:12:11.
For the second Paralympics in a row, Kamylle Frenette was agonizingly close to the podium, finishing fourth again in the women’s standing PT5 classification. Stefan Daniel, the world number one in the men’s PT5, was leading his race at one point, but crashed during the bike portion of the event. He got back up and finished the race, but ended up back in tenth — unable to reach the podium after medalling at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Austin Smeenk won his first career Paralympic medal as well, picking up a bronze in the men’s 100m T34 event at the track.
Smeenk raced to a time of 15.19 seconds at Stade de France, just 0.05 seconds behind Tunisia’s Walid Ktila — who was unable to take gold for the fourth Paralympic Games in a row, finishing second to Thailand's Chaiwat Rattana. Rattana set a new Paralympic record in the final, finishing in 14.76 seconds.
Brent Lakatos was unable to make it to the final of the men’s 1500m T54 event, needing a top-five spot in his first round heat but finishing eighth. Lakatos made a move to try and move up a few spots, but ran out of gas after a few busy days of racing and did not advance. He has a few days off now before the 800m event.
Canada’s sitting volleyball team ended Pool play with a decisive straight sets victory, beating Rwanda 25-14, 25-17, 25-13 to confirm they will play for a medal of some kind. The win confirmed their spot in the semifinals, where they will take on the Pool A winner — which will be determined on Tuesday.
The men’s wheelchair basketball team also finished its group stage with a win, beating Germany 68-52 to confirm second spot in Group A. They will take on the Netherlands, who finished third in Group B, in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Canada finished sixth in the wheelchair rugby competition, ending their tournament with a 53-50 loss to France in the fifth-place game. As he has throughout this tournament, and for a long time, Zak Madell led Canada in scoring, crossing the try line 35 times in the match.
Rob Shaw was eliminated in the wheelchair tennis quad singles quarterfinals, falling 6-0, 6-0 to Dutch powerhouse Niels Vink of the Netherlands.
What’s happening on Day 6?
Below are all of the Canadian athletes competing on Tuesday. Click here for CBC’s guide on when and where to watch every Paralympic event.
The pool has been the source of a lot of success for Team Canada once again at these Paralympics, and seven Canadians will be in action there on Tuesday.
Mary Jibb races in the women’s 100m backstroke S9 heats for her Paralympic debut, followed by Sebastian Massabie in the men’s 200m freestyle S4 a few days after he finished fifth in the 100m event. Nikita Ens and Aly Van Wyck-Smart both race in the women’s 100m freestyle S3 heats, Alec Elliot and Fernando Lu go in the men’s 100m butterfly S10, and Katie Cosgriffe rounds things out in the women’s 100m butterfly S10.
The heats for all of those events will be in the early session, with the finals set for the evening.
At least two Canadians will compete in Para athletics finals on Tuesday, with Cody Fournie making his Paralympic debut in the men’s T51 200m final in the morning session, and Zachary Gingras looking to improve on his Tokyo 2020 bronze medal in the men’s T38 400m final in the evening.
Also competing in the morning are Marissa Papaconstantinou in the women’s 200m T64 heats, Bianca Borgella in the women’s 100m T13 heats, and Sheriauna Haase in the women’s 100m T47 heats. Finals go in the evening for the athletes who are able to advance.
All three of Canada’s wheelchair fencers will be in action on Tuesday in their respective sabre events. The oldest member of Team Canada — Ruth Sylvie Morel, the day after her 68th birthday — will be up first in the women’s A category, taking on Ukrainian fencer Nataliia Morkvych. Ryan Rousell will compete in the men’s A category, also against a Ukranian — Artem Manko. Trinity Lowthian makes her Paralympic debut in the women’s B category, against South Korea’s Cho Eun Hye. Morel will start in the table of 32 while Rousell and Lowthian begin in the table of 16, looking to advance through the rounds to the medal bouts later in the day.
Para equestrian competition begins at the Chateau de Versailles on Tuesday, with all three Canadians in action in the individual events. Roberta Sheffield and horse Fairuza will feature in the Grade II classification, before the other two Canadian athlete-horse duos — Jody Schloss with El Colorado and Austen Burns with Happy Feet 3 — compete in the Grade I event.
Canadian athletes competing in non-medal events on day 6:
Alison Levine and Iulian Ciobanu play their two first round matches in the mixed pairs BC4 boccia event on Tuesday. They will be up against China and Croatia, with the top two teams in the pool advancing to the quarterfinals later in the week.
The men’s wheelchair basketball team competes in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands, looking to advance to the semifinals and guarantee the chance to play for a medal.
The situation is the same for the women’s goalball team, who are up against Israel in the quarterfinals of their tournament.
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