Brent Lakatos aces test for upcoming events with seventh place in 5000m at Paralympics

Amanda Rummery and Guillaume Ouellet lead Canadians with fifth place finishes 

PARIS – One of Canada’s great Paralympic athletes was all smiles after a seventh-place finish in the T54 men’s 5000-metre wheelchair race on Saturday at the Paralympic Games.

Lakatos, an 11-time Paralympic medallist at his sixth Games, has battled a rib injury this season and declared that it’s all systems go for the upcoming events in which he hopes to be on the podium.

However Lakatos surprised himself in a very close 5000 and nearly made the podium. Only 1.5 seconds separated the top eight finishers in a race that delighted the 80,000 screaming fans at Stade de France.

‘’I’m extremely proud of the whole race,’’ said the 44-year-old ageless wonder from Dorval, Que. ‘’I didn’t make any mistakes and executed the plan perfectly. It was just a little bit at the end. Maybe it was the injury, maybe the race, I don’t know.

‘’All I know is that it was just so much fun to be part of that.’’

Lakatos hooked on to pre-race favourite Marcel Hug of Switzerland, also a six-time Paralympian, sitting second most of the race. But in the last two laps, racers started their attacks which caused the racing order to jumble around.

When the dust settled, Daniel Romanchuk of the U.S. took the gold in 10:55.28. Hug, the defending champion, was second at 10:55.78 and Faisal Alrajhi of Kuwait third at 10:55.99. Lakatos clocked 10:56.73.

‘’That was the plan to follow Marcel and even to box him in at the end,’’ said Lakatos. ‘’I was going to attempt that on my own, but it was just that little bit of stamina. Still the time was great.’’

Later in the Games Lakatos is scheduled to race the 400m, 800m and 1500m. He currently holds the world record in the 800.

Rummery and Keegan make impressive Paralympic Games debuts

Amanda Rummery of Sherwood Park, Alta. and Keegan Gaunt of Ottawa both made their Paralympic Games debuts on Saturday night after just missing the cut for Tokyo 2020.

Rummery, 27, took fifth spot in a blistering women’s T47 400-m for arm amputees clocking 58.02 seconds. The top four set personal bests and Rummery was just 0.03 seconds short of her PB.

‘’I felt amazing,’’ said the bright-eyed Rummery about her first Paralympic Games experience. ‘’I achieved my goal by running a fast time that reflected where I’m at in my career and what I’ve been able to do this outdoor season.’’

Rummery also ranked fifth in the preliminaries on Thursday.

‘’I actually did change my strategy for the final,’’ she said. ‘’I wasn’t super happy with how I felt, it wasn’t a great time, and it was harder than it should have been.

‘’ So I just wanted to be more tall and smooth in the final and I absolutely did that.’’

Visually impaired runner Keegan Gaunt continued a unique family tradition by competing at her first Paralympics. Her mother Robbi Weldon was a four-time Paralympian and won gold in Para cycling at the 2012 Paralympics.

Her father Robert Gaunt was a two-time Paralympian for Canada in men’s goalball. 

‘’It was a very special moment with my parents and grandmother here tonight,’’ said Gaunt, 24, who placed ninth in the women’s T13 1500m. ‘’I grew up watching my Mom compete and my Grandma and I saw her win in London, so it’s kind of a full circle moment.

‘’I’ll never forget stepping out onto the track and hearing the crowd. With my family there it is something I’ll never forget. It was really, really special.’’

In the morning events, two more visually impaired Para athletes were in action for Canada.

Three-time Paralympian Guillaume Ouellet of Victoriaville, Que. was fifth in the men’s T13 1500m and Ashlyn Renneberg of Saskatoon was seventh in the T13 women’s javelin.