PARIS – National team rookie Bianca Borgella of Ottawa lowered her Canadian record in the women’s T13 200m for visually impaired runners on Wednesday to win her second medal this week at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships.
It was Canada’s fifth medal of the competition (two silver and three bronze). At the last worlds in 2019, the Canadians marched six times to the podium.
Adiaratou Iglesias of Spain won the gold medal in 24.86 seconds followed by Borgella who clocked 25.00 bettering her previous best of 25.26 set earlier this season. Erin Kerkhoff of the U.S. was third in 25.58.
"I knew I could have gone out harder at the start, but I made up for it in the end,’’ said Borgella, 20. “’I'm happy with it how it went. It was smooth, it was clean, I really pushed to get the medal that I got."
In the 100m on Monday, Iglesias and Borgella were the silver and bronze medallists.
Ambulatory runner Zachary Gingras of Markham, Ont. won his T38 400m heat to advance to Thursday's final in 51.50, the second-best time overall. Gingras won bronze in the event at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Anthony Bouchard of Quebec City qualified for the men's T52 400m wheelchair racing final with a personal-best time of 1:04.23, ranking fourth in his heat.
The event continues in Paris through July 17. CBC Sports is streaming the event on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem and the CBC Sports app for mobile devices. The schedule is available here: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/streaming-schedule?sport=Para+Athletics
