It was a thrilling three-medal Sunday at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games for Canada, adding a silver and two bronze to its total, alongside victories in wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball, and more.
MEDALS WON ON AUGUST 29
SILVER – Brent Lakatos, Para Athletics, Men’s T53 400m
BRONZE – Stefan Daniel, Para Triathlon, Men’s PTS5
BRONZE – Morgan Bird, Katarina Roxon, Sabrina Duchesne and Aurélie Rivard, Para Swimming, Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay 34 points
OVERALL MEDAL TOTAL
Gold: 1
Silver: 6
Bronze: 4
Total: 11
RESULTS SUMMARY
Para Athletics
Brent Lakatos is now 2-for-2 at Tokyo 2020 with his second silver medal in as many days at the Games, this time in the men’s T53 400m. He finished in 46.75, a new personal best and Americas record, finishing just behind Thailand’s Pongsakorn Paeyo who broke Lakatos’ previous world record with a time of 46.61 to take gold. It is his third consecutive Paralympic silver medal in this distance (London 2012, Rio 2016, and now Tokyo 2020). Lakatos now has nine Paralympic medals, with more races to come this week.
“I know I should be happy with the result, and I will be soon. It’s a personal best, a Canadian record, I did it when it mattered the most, and I will be happy with that. Right now, I’m frustrated because I thought that what I did would be good enough for gold. I really wanted to bring home gold after the silver yesterday and it was just short,” said Lakatos.
In their Paralympic debuts, Jessica Frotten (Whitehorse, YT) and Austin Ingram (Petawawa, ON) raced in the morning’s heats but did not qualify for the finals of their events. Frotten was fourth in her heat of the women’s T53 800m while Ingram also finished fourth, in his men’s T13 100m heat.
Para Triathlon
Stefan Daniel (Calgary, AB) is now a two-time Paralympic medallist. The four-time world champion captured a bronze medal in the men’s PTS5 race, finishing in a time of 59:22, which was one minute and 12 seconds back of champion Martin Schulz of Germany. Daniel, who captured a silver medal at Rio 2016 when Para triathlon was first added to the Paralympic program, maintained third position throughout the majority of the race.
“My first reaction was a bit of disappointment, but honestly these are the best guys in the world and there is no room for error so I’m pretty proud of my efforts today,” said Daniel. “I gave absolutely everything I had on the day and that was good enough for bronze. I absolutely had to earn that bronze today.”
Kamylle Frenette (Dieppe, NB) was fourth in the women’s PTS5 event, in her first Paralympic appearance.
Para Swimming
In a dramatic women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, Morgan Bird (Calgary, AB), Katarina Roxon (Kippens, NL), Sabrina Duchesne (St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC), and Aurélie Rivard (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) won a bronze medal for Canada. Originally sitting fifth following the race, the disqualifications of Great Britain and the United States bumped Canada up to the third podium position. It is the first Paralympic medal for Bird and Duchesne, Roxon’s second, and Rivard’s eighth (and her third at these Games).
“I am so excited for this amazing relay that we pulled off,” said Roxon. “It was phenomenal just getting up there with those girls. We felt ready, we felt excited, we were pushing hard for a podium finish, and we gave everything we had and left it in that pool.”
The relay was Duchesne’s second event of the day, as she earlier finished fifth in the women’s 400m freestyle S7 final with a Canadian record of 5:20.59. Also with a fifth-place result was Nicholas Bennett (Parksville, BC) in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14 after qualifying with a Canadian record time of 1:06.73 in the heats.
A silver medallist in the backstroke earlier in the Games, Nicolas-Guy Turbide (Quebec City, QC) was eighth in the men’s 50m freestyle S13 final.
Three swimmers missed out on advancing to the finals in the morning – Angela Marina (Cambridge, ON) in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB14 and Aly Van Wyck-Smart (Toronto, ON) and Nikita Ens (Meadow Lake, SK), both in the women’s 50m backstroke S3. Ens earned a personal best time of 1:10.82 in the race.
Wheelchair Basketball
The Canadian men are officially on the board with their first win of the tournament, keeping their chances of advancing to the knockout round alive. In another close battle, Canada held on for a 74-64 win over South Korea to bring their record to 1-3 with a game remaining. Patrick Anderson (Fergus, ON) led the way with 29 points, while Nik Goncin (Regina, SK) and Bo Hedges (Wonowon, BC) added 23 and 10 apiece.
In the women’s tournament, Canada closed out preliminary play with a dominant 76-37 triumph over Australia. All 11 players saw court time, with the trio of Tamara Steeves (Mississauga, ON), Arinn Young (Legal, AB), and Kady Dandeneau (Pender Island, BC) scoring 17, 16 and 15 points each. With the win, Canada finished second in their group with a 3-1 record to advance into Tuesday’s quarterfinals, where they will take on USA.
Boccia
The group stage continued in the individual boccia competition, with Iulian Ciobanu (Montreal) going up 2-0 in the BC4 event, besting China’s Lin Ximei 6-4 in a superb match against a higher-ranked opponent. Also in BC4, Alison Levine (Montreal) is 1-1 following a loss to Wai Yan Vivian Lau 3-2, which the Hong Kong native clinched with a point in the fourth end.
In the BC2 draw, Danik Allard (Bois-des-Filion, QC) – the youngest BC2 athlete in Tokyo, in his Paralympic debut – is now 0-2 after a loss to Japanese Hidetaka Sugimura by a score of 6-3.
Sitting Volleyball
Canada has its first win in women’s sitting volleyball. The team took control early, winning the first two sets before defeating Italy 3-1 to bring its group play record to 1-1 with one game remaining. The top two teams in each group will advance to the semifinals.
“I am so proud of this team and how we brought the heat and intensity in that match,” said team member Heidi Peters (Neerlandia, AB), the game’s top scorer with 34 points. “We had a low in the third set and rallied back by focusing on the game plan, staying aggressive, and executing. We are focused on our next match against Japan and looking to secure a spot in the semifinals.”
Para Rowing
Para rowing competition has wrapped up in Tokyo, with Canada’s best result a second place in the mixed coxed four B final (eighth overall). Kyle Fredrickson (Duncan, BC), Bayleigh Hooper (Chatsworth, ON), Victoria Nolan (Toronto, ON), Andrew Todd (Dartmouth, NS) and coxswain Laura Court (St. Catharines, ON) raced to the finish line in a time of 7:43.03.
“I think it started with the pre-row this morning, it was definitely our best pre-row of the regatta, the warm-up was pretty dialed, and we were able to sort out a few things which was great,” said Todd. “And then it was really just about committing to Laura’s calls, and trying to make sure the last race of regatta is the best one. I think we were able to learn from the races before that, and have it unfold today the way we wanted it to.”
In the mixed double sculls, Jessye Brockway (Mill Bay, BC) and Jeremy Hall (St. Paul, AB) concluded their first Paralympic Games in sixth place in the B final, 12th overall. For Hall, it was the end of a journey with many twists and turns which started with a nationwide search to find a partner to race with in this event and included being given a bipartite spot to compete in Tokyo.
“Just making it to these Games and sticking it through all the highs and lows, from the partner search to dealing with COVID and then missing out on qualification until finally getting that spot, there’s been a lot of bumps in the road,” said Hall. “So just reaching this point is a huge milestone and something to be proud of.”
Para Archery
Karen Van Nest (Wiarton, ON) has advanced in Para archery, defeating Japan’s Miho Nagano 138-130 in the 1/16 elimination round of the women’s compound open. She will return for the 1/8 round elimination on Monday.
“I was pretty nervous up there,” said Van Nest, who is competing at her sixth Paralympic Games. “I trusted my process and got settled. I was super happy to have Team Canada cheering me on from the stands. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
COMPLETE RESULTS
CLICK HERE for the complete Canadian Paralympic Team results on August 29.
