Aurélie Rivard swims to 12th career Paralympic medal with silver in S10 100m freestyle
Canadian women's wheelchair basketball team beats Spain in final group-stage game
Canadian swimmer Aurélie Rivard captured her 12th career Paralympic medal with silver in the women's S10 100-metre freestyle event on Sunday in Paris.
The 28-year-old from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., clocked a time of one minute 00.82 seconds at Paris La Défense Arena, finishing just 0.3 seconds behind gold medallist Emeline Pierre of France.
Rivard, who holds the world record, was the two-time defending champion in the event.
"Obviously, I'm disappointed, because I was looking forward to defending my title — and then again, I kind of blacked out in the last 50 metres, so I don't really know what happened," Rivard said.
"I was really focusing on trying to touch the wall as quickly as possible, because I could see the girls next to me, but again it's hard to be sad while being here and with the crowd, so I'm just looking forward to talking to my team and enjoying again the moment on the podium."
WATCH | Rivard claims silver medal:
Her latest podium appearance momentarily pushed her one past wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos for most among Canadians in Paris, but Lakatos won silver later in the day to restore the tie.
It's Rivard's second medal of these Games after claiming bronze in the S10 50m freestyle on the opening day.
"Twelve years ago when I started my Paralympic career, I never thought that I would reach that amount of medals and I can't be disappointed about that," Rivard, the four-time Paralympian, said.
Italy's Alessia Scortechini finished behind Rivard for the bronze medal in 1:01.02.
The vast crowd at the swimming venue roared when Pierre touched the wall first, leaving the French athlete seemingly stunned, sitting on the ledge with her hands covering her mouth.
Rivard, who set the event world record (58.14) while capturing gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021, could only look on.
"I'm cherishing this. We can hear the crowd even in the water. I also love to see that people are just as excited for Paralympic sports as they were for the Olympics. It's amazing, especially in France," Rivard said.
Pierre became the first French woman to win Paralympic swimming gold since 2012.
"I spent all day being excited waiting for tonight. I knew there was something cool to play for. I knew I could go on the podium," she said.
"I only realized it when I saw all the crowd reacting, shouting and seeing the results on the screen and I was like, 'Wow I've done the biggest thing in my career'. I needed two seconds to realize, it's me, I'm a Paralympic champion."
Rivard, who was born with an underdeveloped left hand, posted the fastest qualifying time earlier in the day with a mark of 1:00.41. She also took home the world title last summer in Manchester, England.
Edmonton's Arianna Hunsicker failed to advance to the final, placing seventh in her heat with a time of 1:03.18.
Canada is now sitting on eight medals (four silver, four bronze) for the Paris Paralympics, but is still searching for its first gold.
WATCH | Rivard discusses latest podium appearance:
Canadian women's wheelchair basketball team rolls
Canada wrapped women's wheelchair basketball group play with a resounding 81-49 win over Spain at Bercy Arena.
Keyed by a 36-point outburst from Kady Dandeneau, Canada jumped ahead to a seven-point lead after the first quarter and never looked back.
"It was a really good game for us. We wanted to come out hard. It's our last game before heading into the quarters so we wanted to get some momentum going forward," said Dandeneau, the Pender Island, B.C., native.
It'll face the third-place squad from Group B, which includes the Netherlands, the U.S., Germany and Japan, in the quarterfinals — a one-game knockout — on Wednesday. Group B play wraps up Monday.
Dandeneau, 34, said the team is confident heading into the next stage of the tournament.
"This is the best our team has felt in a long time. [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," she said.
The Canadian women have not reached the Paralympic podium since 2004, when a bronze medal in Athens ended a run of three straight gold.
Hanes briefly holds Paralympic record
Julia Hanes set a Paralympic record in her Games debut on Sunday. It just wasn't enough to sniff the podium.
Hanes, competing second in the women's F34 javelin, launched her second attempt 15.34 metres, briefly setting the mark for Paralympic competition.
But her record was quickly surpassed over and over.
The 29-year-old Hanes, of Vancouver, ended up placing eighth as China's Lijuan Zou set a world record to win gold at 22.55 metres. Fellow Chinese athlete Caiyun Zuo snagged silver with a personal-best toss of 19.44 metres, while Australia's Dayna Crees notched an area record of 17.65 metres to claim bronze.
Smeenk advances to medal races
Canadian wheelchair racer Austin Smeenk advanced to the final of the men's T34 100m on Sunday at Stade de France.
Smeenk registered the fourth-fastest qualifying time, winning his Round 1 heat in 15.38.
The 27-year-old Oakville, Ont., native will race in the final on Monday at 5:24 a.m. ET.
Smeenk won silver in the event at the World Para Athletics Championships last July.
WATCH | Swimmer Tess Routliffe details journey to silver medal:
Cyclist Sametz withdraws from road races with injury
Para cyclist Mike Sametz of Calgary withdrew from the Paralympics because of injury.
The 28-year-old crashed in training for road races. Sametz fractured his right hip and will require surgery, the medal-winning cyclist said in a joint statement released Sunday by the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Cycling Canada.
"It's been a chaotic few days since I had an unfortunate accident on Wednesday," Sametz said. "I landed awkwardly on my right hip, which resulted in a fracture that required surgery. I am immensely grateful for the emergency responses on all fronts.
"It's unfortunate that I will be unable to compete, but I want to congratulate my teammates on their stellar results on the track and wish them the best of luck in the upcoming road events."
Sametz was a bronze medallist in the time trial in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and also in last year's Parapan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.
He didn't race in Tokyo's Paralympics three years ago because of injury.
His six teammates will compete in road races starting with Wednesday's men's and women's time trials.
The team earned three bronze medals in track cycling in Paris.
Other Canadian results:
- Kyle Tremblay was eliminated from the men's individual compound open archery event by India's Rakesh Kumar in the quarterfinals. The two were tied at 144 after five ends, but Kumar advanced by winning the ensuing shoot-off.
- Canada's wheelchair rugby squad will compete for fifth place in Paris after beating Denmark 56-46 in the first of two placing playoff games. The Canadians, who were eliminated from medal contention on Saturday, will face France on Monday at 11:30 a.m. ET.
- The Canadian women's goalball team played South Korea to a scoreless draw in its final preliminary-round game. Canada will next face Israel in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at 9:15 a.m. ET.
- Para table tennis player Peter Isherwood lost 3-1 in the men's MS2 Round of 32 against Poland's Tomasz Jakimczuk. Isherwood was the first Canadian to ever compete in the wheelchair classification of the sport.
With files from The Canadian Press
