Paris 2024 Paralympics Day 7: Greg Stewart defends shot put title, Nicholas Bennett golden again in the pool
Four Canadians reach the podium on another memorable day in Paris.
Canada added four medals, two of them gold, to their haul at the Paris 2024 Paralympics on Wednesday as the first week of the Games came to an end.
Greg Stewart repeated as the men’s F46 shot put Paralympic champion, throwing a season-best 16.38 metres with his fifth attempt, narrowly beating India’s Sachin Sarjerao Khilari who threw 16.32m. Luka Bakovic of Croatia was just behind them at a personal best 16.27m. Stewart still holds the Paralympic record of 16.75m from Tokyo 2020.
Stewart retired after the Tokyo Games but made a return to the sport in the leadup to Paris 2024. He revealed after repeating as champion that his intention is to return for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics in four years’ time.
“I think it was a pretty fun competition,” he said. “Our sport is growing a lot; we had three guys throw over 16 metres in this final. I wanted to come back, I wanted to continue supporting the Paralympic Movement, and continue to support athletes any way we can. So I'm just really happy and grateful to be here.”
Two other Canadians competed in throwing events on Wednesday, with Charlotte Bolton finishing sixth in the women’s F41 discus and Katie Pegg finishing seventh in the women’s F46 shot put.
Two days after winning Canada’s first gold medal in Paris and the first of his Paralympic career, Nicholas Bennett won another on Wednesday — finishing first in the men’s 200m individual medley SM14.
Bennett is the reigning world champion in the event, and holds the world record at 2:05.97. He nearly matched that time on Wednesday, touching the wall in 2:06.05 for a new Paralympic record.
He also had a silver medal earlier in the Games, bringing his Paris 2024 total to three. He is the first Canadian male Para swimmer to win multiple gold medals at a single Games since Benoît Huot won five in 2004.
Reid Maxwell, the youngest member of Team Canada at Paris 2024, won his first Paralympic medal on Wednesday, picking up a silver medal in the men’s 400m freestyle S8. Two days after his 17th birthday, Maxwell set a new Americas record in the heats and then beat it again by almost two seconds in the final, finishing second in a time of 4:23.90 to sprint onto the podium behind Alberto Amodeo of Italy, and ahead of Neutral Paralympic Athlete Andrei Nikolaev.
“It's definitely everything I've always dreamed of to just come here,” said Maxwell of his Paralympic debut. “So being able to medal here is a whole other thing. And honestly, that fight for the last 50 [metres] definitely made it worth it.”
Tess Routliffe also made a final on Wednesday, finishing eighth in the women’s 100m freestyle S7. Five Canadians didn’t advance from their morning heats — Philippe Vachon in the men’s 400m freestyle S8, Abi Tripp in the women’s 400m freestyle S8, Shelby Newkirk and Sabrina Duchesne in the women’s 100m freestyle S7, and Mary Jibb in the women’s 100m freestyle S9.
Competing at his second Paralympic Games but first in Para cycling, Nathan Clement won his first Paralympic medal on Wednesday, earning a silver in the men’s T1-2 time trial. Clement finished the 14.1-kilometre course in a time of 22:53:36, just over a minute behind the gold medallist Chen Jianxin of China.
Clement previously competed at the Rio 2016 Games in Para swimming, and made the final in one of his two events before retiring from the sport. He made the switch to cycling, and hasn’t looked back — finding a lot of success at the world championships and Parapan American Games over the past few years.
“It's special. It's a lifetime of work,” said Clement. “I've been in the Para sport journey since about, really 11, 12 years old, and although I wore different hats as a CP seven-a-side soccer player, as a Para swimmer and now as a Para cyclist, I am very fortunate because many athletes don't get to go to two Games, let alone two Games in a different sport, let alone get on a podium and stand up there seeing that Canadian flag being raised.”
Five other Canadians raced in time trials on Wednesday Keely Shaw (women’s C4) and Alexandre Hayward (men’s C3) both finished fifth in their respective events, Charles Moreau was seventh in the men’s H3 event, and Mel Pemble was 14th in the women’s C3. Kate O’Brien raced in the women’s C4 event but did not finish her race.
For the first time in 20 years, the Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team will play for a medal after a 71-53 win over Germany in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Kady Dandeneau led the way again for Canada, dropping 33 points, with Arinn Young dropping 18 and Elodie Tessier adding 10. Canada will play against the Netherlands on Friday in the semis, with a spot in the gold medal game on the line.
Canada’s boccia BC4 mixed doubles pair of Alison Levine and Iulian Ciobanu will play for a bronze medal in their tournament on Thursday after mixed results on Wednesday. The duo beat Ukrainian pair Nataliia Konenko and Artem Kolinko 6-0 in the quarterfinals, but in the semifinals later in the day lost 6-4 to Cheung Yuen and Leung Yuk Wing of Hong Kong. Canada missed out on the gold medal match, but will play for bronze against Thailand on Thursday.
The Canadian women’s goalball team confirmed a fifth-place finish in their tournament, beating Japan 1-0 in their final placement match. Amy Burk scored the lone goal of the match for Canada in the second half.
What’s happening on Day 8?
Below are all of the Canadian athletes competing on Thursday. Click here for CBC’s guide on when and where to watch every Paralympic event.
Nine Canadians will be in action at the pool, beginning with Tess Routliffe and Abi Tripp both racing in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB7 heats. Aurelie Rivard is up next in the women’s 400m freestyle S10 heats as she looks to defend her back-to-back gold medals in the event from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. After that, Katarina Roxon and Mary Jibb race in the women’s 200m individual medley SM9 heats, before Canada’s mixed 4x50m medley relay team races in their first round. Canada will be represented in the relay by Nikita Ens, Shelby Newkirk, Sebastian Massabie and Reid Maxwell.
The finals for all of those swimming events will be later on Thursday in the evening session at La Defense Arena. Routliffe and Maxwell will be looking for their second medals of the Games, while Rivard will be going for her third.
Canadian duo Alison Levine and Iulian Ciobanu will play for bronze in the boccia BC4 mixed pairs event on Thursday, taking on Thailand’s Pornchok Larpyen and Nuanchan Phonsila.
Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Priscilla Gagne goes for gold in the women’s 57 kg J1 judo event. She has a bye to the quarterfinals, and will look to advance through the remaining rounds to the medal bouts later in the day.
Charles Moreau will be the lone Canadian Para cyclist in action, racing in the men’s H3 road race one day after finishing seventh in the time trial on Wednesday.
Brent Lakatos will race in the men’s T53 800m final at the track on Thursday night, one of two Canadians competing in athletics finals. Julia Hanes, who competed in javelin earlier in the week, will compete in the women’s F33 shot put final.
Canadian athletes competing in non-medal events on day 8:
Three track athletes will be competing in heats in the evening Para athletics session: Marissa Papaconstantinou in the women’s T64 100m event in which she was a bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020, Keegan Gaunt in the women’s T13 400m, and Anthony Bouchard in the men’s T52 100m.
The Canadian women’s sitting volleyball team take on China in the semifinals. The winner will play for gold against Brazil or the United States on Saturday, while the two losing sides will battle it out for bronze that same day.
The situation is the same for the men’s wheelchair basketball team, who take on the United States looking to reach the final for the first time since they won gold at London 2012. The Americans are the defending Paralympic champions.
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