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Brazilian swimmer Gabrielzinho won a remarkable third swimming gold medal at the Paris Paralympic Games on Monday, while Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo became the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the Games.
Costa Rica’s Sherman Guity left the world’s fastest amputee sprinters behind by winning the highly anticipated men’s T64 100m, while 19-year-old California sprinter-jumper Ezra Frech won the first of what promises to be many track and field gold medals.
All eyes were on the La Défense Arena swimming pool to see 22-year-old Gabrielzinho complete a hat-trick of gold by winning the S2 200m freestyle final.
Gabrielzinho, who has no arms or hands and whose legs are atrophied, clocked 3:58.92 ahead of neutral athlete Vladimir Danilenko.
The third gold medal for the Brazilian, whose full name is Gabriel Geraldo dos Santos Araujo, follows his successes in the 100m backstroke and the 50m backstroke.
“It’s the feeling of a mission accomplished, of a duty fulfilled. Because I came to Paris to win the three gold medals,” said Gabrielzinho, who has become one of the faces of these Games.
In another exceptional swimming feat, Belarusian Ihar Boki won his 20th career Paralympic gold medal by winning the 50m freestyle for the visually impaired.
On the track at the Stade de France, transgender sprinter Petrillo, 50, finished second in her heat of the T12 400 meters for the visually impaired, qualifying for the semi-finals.
But that proved to be a step too far and the Italian was eliminated despite a personal best of 57.58 seconds, placing third and out of the places for the final.
Petrillo suffers from Stargardt disease, a genetic retinal disorder that causes progressive vision loss.
– Speed merchants for amputees –
Guity claimed a clear victory in the men’s T64 100m, setting a Paralympic record of 10.65 seconds ahead of world champion Maxcel Amo Manu of Italy who clocked 10.76 seconds.
The defending champion, German Felix Streng, had to settle for the bronze medal, one hundredth of a second behind.
“I’m very happy with this result. I didn’t expect it. I competed against very strong athletes. It was a Paralympic final and I had to give it my all,” said Guity, 27.
Double British champion Jonnie Peacock finished fifth and American sprinter Hunter Woodhall, whose wife is new Olympic long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall, was sixth.
A new sprint star was born as Frech won a closely contested T63 100m final in a personal best time of 12.06 seconds.
The Californian, an above-knee amputee, roared with joy and rushed into the arms of his family in the front row.
Frech revealed that he only uses the 100m as preparation for his favourite event, the high jump.
“I looked at this as a warm-up for the high jump. I’m going to go out there, get my blood flowing, have a good race, then come back tomorrow and win the high jump,” he said.
“But about 50 meters in, I thought, ‘Wow, I’m in this, I got a good start, I did everything right…’ I felt like everyone (the other participants in the race) was watching me.”
He promised to win the double on Tuesday: “I’m really not satisfied. I’m still hungry. Tomorrow night I’ll win gold in the high jump.”
The triathlon events took place after being postponed for 24 hours due to concerns over the water quality of the Seine.
Frenchman Alexis Hanquinquant began these Paralympic Games as his country’s flag bearer and lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony. He ended them on Monday by retaining his triathlon title.
After defending his PTS4 title won at Tokyo 2020, Hanquinquant, whose leg was amputated below the knee after a work accident, said: “It was the perfect Games for me.”
In the wheelchair rugby final, Japan beat three-time champions USA 48-41 to win their first Paralympic title.
Katsuya Hashimoto scored 19 tries for Japan, who won bronze at the last two Games.
In the medals table, top-ranked China added 10 more medals to reach 43 medals. Great Britain is second with 29 medals. The United States is third with 13 medals.
gj/ft
