Canada caps Para athletics worlds with more promise towards Paris 2024

KOBE, Japan – The 2024 World Para Athletics Championships wrapped up on Saturday with more promising results for Canada.

The six-member team ended the competition with two silver medals won on Thursday and Friday. They were earned by Greg Stewart of Kamloops, B.C. in the men’s F46 shot put and Cody Fournie of Toronto in the men’s T51 100m. Those results also earned Canada quota spots at the 2024 Paralympic Games later this summer in Paris.

Canada sent a 25-member team to last year’s worlds in Paris. It nailed down 10 qualification spots for the 2024 Games. The team won 14 medals (two gold, seven silver and five bronze), its best worlds since 2013.

There were some close calls on the weekend for more medals as Jesse Zesseu, Fournie and Sheriauna Haase, all of Toronto, each finished fourth in the F37 discus, T51 200m, and women’s T47 200m respectively.

Both Fournie and Haase set personal best times in their events.

Haase, 17, is vying for a first Paralympic Games participation. She won a bronze at the Parapan Am Games in Chile last fall.

“I had to honestly put a bit more effort than I thought I had to (in the preliminaries), but I PBd in that, which was surprising,” said Haase, born missing part of her left arm. “I was going through a rollercoaster for the past two weeks of what I want my outcome to be and changing it every so often.”

 

 

 

 

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Fournie, a former national level wheelchair rugby player, became a quadriplegic through an accident at just 11 years old.

“I felt good going into the race and when I realized that I was going to come in fourth, I got a little discouraged,” said Fournie.

‘’Then I realized I got a PB, so that made me feel much better. I’m just going to capitalize on everything I learned here about rest, nutrition, hydration, and try to focus on making my performance better for Paris.”

The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Team Trials are June 26-30 in Montreal.

Amanda Rummery breaks Canadian record

In other Para athletics news, Amanda Rummery of Sherwood Park, Alta. delivered a fantastic performance at the Franson Last Chance Meet in Azusa, California last week. She set a new women’s T46 400m Canadian record time of 57.99 seconds.

She was fourth in the event at the world championships last year in 59.06. The left arm amputee also holds the national marks in the 100 and 200 for her category.

 

 

 

 

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Canada fifth at women’s goalball tournament

In Malmo, Sweden, Canada’s Paralympic Games-bound women’s goalball team took fifth spot at the Malmo Lady Cup in Sweden which ended Sunday.

The Canadians were 2-2 in the preliminary round with wins over Brazil and Ukraine and losses to Sweden and China. That put the Canadians in the match for fifth spot and they edged South Korea 2-1.

‘’We played a strong offensive and defensive game (against South Korea),’’ the Canadian team posted on Facebook. ‘’

‘’We had a tough loss to China. So many things learned from the game and to go home and work on. We bounced back with a strong win against Ukraine.’’

Japan defeated Brazil 3-2 in the final.