Nicholas Bennett's 2nd gold headlines double-medal day for Canada in Paralympic pool
Reid Maxwell, 17, earns silver while setting Americas record in S8 400m free
Canadian swimmer Nicholas Bennett won his second gold medal of the Paris Paralympics on Wednesday in the men's SM14 200-metre individual medley.
The 20-year-old from Parksville, B.C., won the race in a Paralympic-record time of two minutes 6.05 seconds at Paris La Défense Arena. The Canadian also holds the world record in the event, setting it at 2:05.97 at national-team trials in May.
It's Bennett's third medal in Paris after winning gold in the men's SB14 100m breaststroke and silver in the S14 200m freestyle.
"Seven one-hundredths off my world record, it's successful to say the least," Bennett said. "I was certainly a lot more comfortable racing today. I knew there was definitely a chance being so close to my world record. Having a sense of serenity definitely calms the emotions."
WATCH | Bennett victorious in 200m IM, winning 2nd gold of Paris Paralympics:
Bennett is the first Canadian male swimmer to win multiple gold medals at a single Paralympic Games since Benoît Huot at the 2004 Games in Athens.
And his latest victory wasn't even close. Bennett touched over 2.5 seconds ahead of silver medallist Rhys Darbey of Great Britain (2:08.61) and bronze medallist Australian Ricky Betar (2:08.69), who set an Oceania record.
Still, the Canadian described his final length as "painful."
Competing in his second Paralympics, Bennett has credited the experience he's gained since Tokyo for preparing him for Paris.
"I just gained the feeling of how the call room works or how everybody kind of prepares for it and also how everybody races at that really, really high level just for that really short period of time," he told CBC Sports in March.
In Tokyo, Bennett was the youngest athlete on Team Canada.
Later Wednesday, Canada's youngest athlete in Paris — 17-year-old Reid Maxwell — followed up Bennett's golden swim with a silver medal in the men's S8 400m freestyle final.
The first-time Paralympian broke the Americas record for the second time in one day, touching the wall in 4:23.90.
WATCH | Maxwell swims to silver:
It's the first career Paralympic medal for the St. Albert, Alta., native.
While Italy's Alberto Amodeo cruised to gold in 4:23.23, Maxwell edged neutral Paralympic athlete Andrei Nikolaev, the bronze medallist, by a tenth of a second.
"It's all I ever dreamed of just to come here. Being able to medal here is a whole other thing. Honestly, that fight for the last 50m definitely made it worth it.
Maxwell said he was inspired by Bennett's performance.
"I watched him on the TV and he was definitely motivating. He's Nic, so he pushed through that last 50m and he was really good," Maxwell said.
Maxwell, who was born missing his lower left leg and suffers from a condition that can either partially or fully strip your stomach muscles, broke five national records at trials in May as he emerged as a Paralympic medal contender.
He's a versatile athlete, having played minor football, snowboarded, cycled and competed in triathlons in addition to swimming.
Also, Canadian Tess Routliffe, the 25-year-old from Caledon, Ont., placed eighth in the women's S7 100m freestyle event at 1:13.90.
China's Yuyan Jiang won gold with a world-record time of 1:09.68.
Routliffe has already reached a podium in Paris, having grabbed silver in the women's S7 200m individual medley earlier in Paris.
Her sister, Erin Routliffe, was defending her women's doubles U.S. Open title alongside Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski before being eliminated in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
"She's hopefully on a plane to Paris right now. It will be so great, I'm so happy that she has a positive to that ending at the U.S. Open," Tess said.
"She's the most supportive sister. She was in Rio [at the 2016 Paralympic Games] watching. I am happy she gets to be back."
Canada now has eight medals in the pool in Paris — matching its output from Tokyo with three days of competition still left.
