Paralympic newsletter: Canada’s best day so far, and what to watch Thursday
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Canada doubled its gold-medal count today in Paris as swimmer Nicholas Bennett and shot putter Greg Stewart both topped the podium, while swimmer Reid Maxwell and road cyclist Nathan Clement each grabbed a silver.
Bennett, a 20-year-old athlete with autism, set a new Paralympic record in the men’s 200m individual medley SM14 to capture his second gold and third overall medal of the Games. He won the 100m breaststroke on Monday for Canada’s first gold and also took silver in the 200m freestyle. Bennett is the first Canadian man in 20 years to win multiple swimming gold medals at a single Paralympic Games.
The 7-foot-2 Stewart, born without a lower left arm, repeated as the men’s shot put F46 champion after coming out of retirement to defend his title. He has no plans to walk away this time. “I’m going to go on to L.A.,” Stewart said, referencing the site of the 2028 Paralympics.
Maxwell, 17, who is Canada’s youngest athlete in Paris, won his silver in the men’s 400m freestyle S8. Clement, a Paralympic swimmer before he switched to cycling and won four medals at the world championships, got his silver in the men’s T1-2 individual time trial. It’s the first Paralympic medal for both athletes.
The four-medal haul on Day 7 brought Canada’s tally to 17 medals — four gold, six silver and seven bronze — with four days of competition left. Here’s the full medal table.
Other key Canadian results:
* The Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team defeated Germany 71-53 in the quarterfinals as Kady Dandeneau once again led the way with 33 points and 16 rebounds. Canada will face the defending champion Netherlands in the semifinals on Friday.
* Canada’s women’s goalball team defeated Japan 1-0 in a classification game for fifth place. The Canadians were eliminated from medal contention with Tuesday’s quarterfinal loss to Israel.
Here’s a roundup of Canadian results today.
WATCH | Stewart wins 2nd straight Paralympic title:
Canadian shot putter Greg Stewart successfully defended his Paralympic title in the men’s shot put F46 and collected his gold medal on the podium in Paris. The Kamloops, B.C., native won the title with a season-best toss of 16.38 metres on his fifth of six attempts.
Canadian medal chances coming up on Thursday
Some top contenders in chronological order:
Boccia: Alison Levine and Iulian Ciobanu in the mixed pairs BC4 bronze game at 6:20 a.m. ET. The second-ranked duo defeated Ukraine 6-0 in the quarterfinals today before falling to Hong Kong 6-4 in the semis. They’ll now face Thailand, which lost 4-1 to Colombia in the other semi.
Judo: Priscilla Gagné in the women’s 57kg J1 tournament. Gagné, who competes in a class for athletes with a visual impairment, took silver in the 52kg division at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, where she was Canada’s flag-bearer for the opening ceremony. She has since moved up to the 57kg weight class and is currently ranked fourth in the world. Gagné has a bye to the quarterfinals. The medal bouts begin at 10 a.m. ET. Here’s more on Gagné.
Swimming: Tess Routliffe and Abi Tripp in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB7 final at 11:30 a.m. ET. Swimmers must advance through the morning heats to reach their finals. Assuming they do, Routliffe and Tripp could end up sharing the podium. They won gold and silver, respectively, at last year’s world championships. Routliffe, 25, took silver in the 200m individual medley on Saturday for her second career Paralympic medal, while the 23-year-old Tripp is still seeking her first medal in her third trip to the Games. She made her Paralympic debut as a 15-year-old in 2016.
Swimming: Aurélie Rivard in the women’s 400m freestyle S10 final at 11:50 a.m. ET. The 28-year-old won her 12th Paralympic medal on Sunday, taking silver in the 100m freestyle. Now she’s going for a baker’s dozen and her third consecutive Paralympic gold in this event.
Swimming: Katarina Roxon in the women’s 200m individual medley S9 final at 12:55 p.m. ET. Canada’s co-flagbearer goes out of her comfort zone in search of her first medal of these Games. All of her individual medals at the Paralympics and world championships have come in the 100m breaststroke. She finished eighth in that event last week. Seventeen-year-old Canadian Mary Jibb will swim in the lane next to Roxon in the morning heats.
Track and field: Brent Lakatos in the men’s T53 800m final at 1:44 p.m. ET. The 44-year-old wheelchair racer won his 12th Paralympic medal on Sunday in the 400m, keeping pace with Rivard for tops among Canadians competing in Paris. He finished seventh in the 5,000m and did not qualify for the 1,500m final, but Lakatos has a good chance to land his 13th medal in his final event of the Games. He reached the 800m podium at each of the past three Paralympics and won gold at last year’s world championships.
Other Canadians to watch on Wednesday
* Canada’s women’s sitting volleyball team faces China in the semifinals at 2 p.m. ET. The Canadians finished second in their group with a 2-1 record while China went 3-0 to win the other group. The winner will face the United States or Brazil for the gold medal on Saturday while the losers play for bronze. Canada has never won a Paralympic medal in sitting volleyball, but the Canadian women took silver at the most recent world championships.
* The Canadian men’s wheelchair basketball team will try to topple the reigning Paralympic and world champion United States in the semifinals at 3:30 p.m. ET. The winner faces Great Britain or Germany for the gold on Saturday while the losers meet in the bronze game. Either way, Canada will play for a medal for the first time since 2012 — the tail end of its run of three Paralympic golds and a silver in a span of four Games. 45-year-old star Pat Anderson, who helped Canada win all four of those medals, had 20 points and 20 rebounds in Tuesday’s 79-67 rout of the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. Here’s a look at Canada’s chances of upsetting the Americans.
WATCH | Setting up Day 8 on CBC Sports’ Rise and Stream:
On Day 8, Para judoka Priscilla Gagné will aim to better her silver medal result from Tokyo 2020, Canada has several medal opportunities in the pool, and the men’s wheelchair basketball team will play Team USA in the semifinals. Watch it all on CBC GEM.
How to watch the Paralympics
Go here to choose the live events you want to watch and find replays and highlights. See the full streaming schedule here.
You can also catch the action in Paris via three daily live shows on the CBC TV network, CBC Gem and CBC Sports’ Paris 2024 website and app. There’s Petro-Canada Paris Prime, hosted by Scott Russell, at 2 p.m. ET; Toyota Paralympic Games Primetime, hosted by Russell and Stef Reid, at 8 p.m. in your local time zone; and Canadian Tire Paralympics Tonight, hosted by Devin Heroux and Roseline Filion, at 11:30 p.m. local.
Digital coverage will also include daily episodes of Rise and Stream, highlighting the must-see events and Canadians to follow, and Hot Takes, featuring interviews with athletes and analysts. Both shows are available on the Paris 2024 site and on CBC Sports’ YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram and X. Here’s more on CBC’s Paralympics coverage.
