Canada's Bianca Borgella sprints to silver medal at Para athletics worlds

Canada's Bianca Borgella is climbing up the podium.

The Rockland, Ont., native won silver in the T13 200-metre visually impaired sprint at the Para athletics world championships on Wednesday in Paris, two days after grabbing bronze in the 100m.

Racing from Lane 5, Borgella started slowly but established a two-person race with Spain's Adi Iglesias over the final stretch. However, the 20-year-old Borgella could not quite close the gap.

"I knew I could have gone out harder at the start, but I made [up] for it at the end. I'm happy with it how it went. It was smooth, it was clean, I really pushed to get the medal that I got," Borgella said.

Iglesias's winning time was 24.86 seconds, just ahead of Borgella's personal-best 25 seconds. American Erin Kerkhoff took bronze at 25.58 seconds.

WATCH | Borgella snags silver:

Bianca Borgella runs to silver for her 2nd medal at Para worlds

1 year ago

Duration 5:50

After winning a bronze medal in the women's 100 metre T13 race on Monday, Bianca Borgella of Rockland, Ont., ran a personal best to claim silver in the women's 200 metre T13 race on Wednesday, at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris.

Earlier, fellow Canadian Zachary Gingras won his T38 400m heat to advance to Thursday's final after crossing the finish line in 51.50 seconds.

Gingras, 21, said he hopes to speed up his second 100 metres in the medal race.

"Little things to change tomorrow, so there's definitely room for improvement," he said.

The Markham, Ont., native won bronze in the discipline at the Tokyo Paralympics with a then-Canadian record time of 50.85 seconds, which he has since lowered to 50.63 seconds.

Also, Anthony Bouchard of Quebec City qualified for the men's T52 400m final with a personal-best time of one minute 4.23 seconds.

WATCH | Highlights from Day 4 of the World Para Athletics Championships:

World Para Athletics Championships Paris: Day 4 highlights show

1 year ago

Duration 25:17

Watch the World Para Athletics Championships day four highlights from Paris.

5 world records fall

The fourth day of competition also saw numerous record-setting performances, including five world records. 

Brazil's Elizabeth Rodrigues Gomes stole the show by setting two world records in one day, winning gold in the women's F54 shot put (7.75m) and women's F53 discus (17.12m). The 58-year-old is the reigning Paralympic champion in her discus event.

Breanna Clark of the U.S. lowered her women's T20 400m world record from the Tokyo Paralympics by 0.06 seconds, clocking a time of 55.12 on Wednesday.

Uzbekistan continued its strong showing in Paris, with Doniyor Saliev setting a world record while claiming his third straight world title in the men's T12 long jump (7.47m).

China's Zou Lijuan also lowered her world record from the Tokyo Games, delivering a throw of 9.25 metres in the women's F34 shot put final.

Watch live coverage of the World Para Athletics Championships on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. Coverage from Paris continues Thursday at 3 a.m. ET with the Day 5 morning session.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.