Canadian wheelchair sprinter Cody Fournie rolls to 2nd gold medal in Paris
Fellow Canadian Jesse Zesseu captures discus silver in Paralympic debut
Canadian wheelchair racer Cody Fournie doesn't love the limelight, but he raced into it at the Paralympic Games in Paris.
Fournie won the T51 men's 100 metres Friday at Stade de France to become a double gold medallist in his Paralympic debut.
The 35-year-old from Victoria also won Tuesday's 200 metres. Fournie took the 100 in a Paralympic-record time of 19.63 seconds.
"It means the world to me," Fournie said.
The work he and coach Geoff Harris did on Fournie's starts since he took silver in the 100 in May's world Para athletics championship in Kobe, Japan, was evident Friday.
The Canadian rocketed off the start line and no competitor could catch him.
"It was just a new technique Geoffrey and I worked on since Kobe, Japan," Fournie said. "It was quick frequency leading into longer strides."
Fournie thrived on the track, but was uncomfortable with the attention his success brought.
"I don't know how to take it," he said. "The new-found fame is not something I'm used to. I'm better one on one. I don't like people staring at me and looking at me. I definitely don't like talking to all these reporters."
Fournie's neck was broken at age 11 when he was run over by a truck while he was crossing the road in Kamloops, B.C., which rendered him a quadriplegic.
His wife Abigail didn't travel to Paris because the couple have another trip planned for October.
"We're saving our money to go to Mexico," Fournie explained. "I didn't want to spend a bunch of money for her to come and watch me for a minute and stay at an Airbnb all by herself."
He was the only man in Friday's sprint final to go under 20 seconds.
"I attribute my success to my faith in Christ, my hard work in training and the team at the West Hub in Victoria," Fournie said.
Silver medallist Peter Genyn of Belgium finished in 20.47 seconds and Toni Piispanen of Finland took bronze in 21.14.
Fournie was born in Rimbey, Alta., but the former wheelchair rugby player lives in Victoria where he's been training at Athletics Canada's West Hub on the Camosun College campus since 2021.
Nate Riech, the reigning Paralympic champion in the men's T38 1,500 metres, and wheelchair racer Austin Smeenk, who won a T34 100-metre bronze in Paris, also train there.
Riech will attempt to defend his title and Smeenk races the 800 metres in Saturday's track and field finale.
Fournie's medal was Canada's seventh, and fourth gold, at the track. Brent Lakatos won the men's T53 800 metres and Greg Stewart the F46 men's shot put.
Canada now has 23 total medals in Paris — two more than its output at Tokyo 2020 with two days of competition still remaining.
Zesseu takes discus silver
Earlier, Canada's Jesse Zesseu won silver in his Paralympic debut in the men's discus F37 final.
Zesseu, from Toronto, finished behind Uzbekistan's Tolibboy Yuldashev after launching his sixth and final throw 53.24 metres.
Zesseu's third throw of 52.81m was ultimately enough to secure the silver medal, as Pakistan's Ali Haider fell 0.7 metres short of the mark on his last chance to defend his title.
"Everything in the last three years since I started Para sport was to do this. I have no words, it's just incredible," Zesseu said.
Yuldashev, who also won shot put bronze in Paris, closed out Friday's final with a personal-best throw of 57.28m, but he had already assured himself the gold medal on his penultimate attempt (56.03m).
Zesseu was born with cerebral palsy after suffering a stroke at birth.
Zesseu came to Para sport as an adult. He says he was working for Cerebral Palsy Ontario when he was told he should investigate his eligibility to pursue Paralympic sport.
"It's just the beginning," Zesseu said. "These are my first Paralympic Games. I didn't know what Para sport was three years ago. I am 25, I am young, I know I have a long way to go, especially in throwing.
"Other guys are 20 years older and are still going. I am excited about the future. Right now I am living the present and enjoy this."
Zesseu says his first reaction after reaching the podium was a sense relief, as he struggled in his world-championship debut last summer in the French capital.
He cried a different kind of tears on Friday.
"I was here last year in exactly the same city, Paris, at the Stade Charléty and I triple faulted. It was the worst moment in my life and I cried.
"I cried again now in Paris but for a different reason, a good reason.
He won silver in his multi-sport Games debut at the 2023 Parapan American Games last November in Santiago, Chile.
Canada's Hennessy directly qualifies for final
Canadian Para canoeist Brianna Hennessy looks poised to make her first appearance on a Paralympic podium.
Hennessy won her heat in the women's VL2 200m va'a singles event with the second-fastest overall time on the day at Vaires-sur-Marne Stadium. Her mark of 1:02.64 was only bested by defending champion Emma Wiggs of Great Britain (1:00.95).
Hennessy took silver in the event at the last three world championships.
The 39-year-old from Ottawa will also compete in the semifinals of the KL1 200m kayak singles on Sunday at 4 a.m. ET, finishing fourth in her heat (59.02).
Fellow Canadians Erica Scarff and Mathieu St-Pierre — competing in the women's VL3 and men's VL2 va'a 200m singles — are also semifinal-bound after finishing third and fourth in their heats, respectively.
Hennessy has also represented Canada in wheelchair rugby. She was a member of Canada's historic women's wheelchair rugby team that placed third at the 2023 Women's Cup in France — the first all-female international wheelchair rugby tournament.
Woodhall joins wife on podium
One month after American Tara Davis-Woodhall's Olympic title in the long jump, her husband Hunter Woodhall, a double amputee, won his own Paralympic gold medal Friday.
Davis-Woodhall's rush into the stands for a celebratory hug from her husband became a viral moment during the Olympics, and the roles switched this time in the Paralympics.
Woodhall won the T62 400m in 46.36 seconds, leaving Germany's Johannes Floors the silver in 46.90 and the Netherlands' Oliver Hendricks the bronze in 46.91.
Woodhall, who raced for the able-bodied track team in college at Arkansas, also won a bronze medal as part of America's 4x100 universal relay team. This comes a year after he didn't make it to the starting line at Para world championships because his prosthetics were malfunctioning.
"This is like a fever dream," Woodhall said. "I am so full of emotions right now. It is so incredible. I have been waiting so long and gone through so much stress and worry about achieving this. When I crossed the line, I was like, 'Am I really first this time or am I still dreaming?"'
Other Canadian results:
- Renée Foessel placed sixth in the women's F38 discus event with a top throw of 34.40 metres.
- Marissa Papaconstantinou placed eighth in the women's T64 100m final at 13.25 seconds after taking bronze in the event at Tokyo 2020.
- Paris bronze medallist Austin Smeenk reached the final of the men's 800m T34 wheelchair racing event by finishing second in his qualifying heat. Smeenk holds the world record in the distance (1:35.59).
- Fellow wheelchair racer Anthony Bouchard finished 5th in the men's 100m T52 final.
- Keely Shaw finished 15th in the women's C4-5 road cycling race, posting a time of 2:09:28 on the 71.0-kilometre course.
- Wheelchair fencer Ryan Rousell lost to Ukrainian Artem Manko in his men's epée Category A Table of 32 match.
- Trinity Lowthian fell to Ukraine's Olena Fedota-Isaieva in the women's epée Category A Table of 16. Lowthian went on to win her first two repechage-round bouts against South Korea's Cho Eun Hye and Italy's Rossana Pasquino, but she later lost narrowly to China's Tong Nga Ting.
Canada's medal count: 23 (8 gold, 7 silver, 8 bronze)
With files from CBC Sports and The Associated Press
