Canada’s medal total reaches 18 after Day 9 of Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

TOKYO – The Tokyo 2020 Canadian Paralympic Team has hit the double-digit mark in silver medals after Aurélie Rivard (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) and Brent Lakatos (Dorval, QC) reached the podium yet again on Thursday. The duo have combined for half of Canada’s total 18 medals at the Games – Rivard with five in the pool (including one with the 4x100m freestyle relay team) and Lakatos with four on the track. Other results on the day include Canada posting a 1-1 record to start the boccia pairs tournament, and all three Canadian paddlers moving into their respective Para canoe semifinals.

MEDALS WON ON SEPTEMBER 2

SILVER – Aurélie Rivard, Para Swimming, Women’s 100m backstroke S10
SILVER – Brent Lakatos, Para Athletics, Men’s T53 800m

OVERALL MEDAL TOTAL

Gold: 3
Silver: 10
Bronze: 5
Total: 18

RESULTS SUMMARY

Para Athletics
On a slick track as the rain poured down in Tokyo, Brent Lakatos raced to second in the men’s T53 800m. Leading after the first lap, it was Thailand’s Pongsakorn Paeyo who would go on to claim his third gold of these Games in a Paralympic record time of 1:36.07. Lakatos, still the world record holder, finished just behind in a time of 1:36.32. The 41-year-old, who finished third in this distance at Rio 2016, now has four silver medals in Tokyo, bringing his career total Paralympic podiums to 11.

“It’s been a lot of silver and I really wanted to bring home a gold. I really wanted to have our anthem played. I’m sure that, in a couple days, it will feel absolutely great,” said Lakatos. “I’ve got the marathon to focus on, so I’m going to think about that over the next couple of days and just try to come out and do my best in the marathon.”

Marissa Papaconstantinou (Toronto, ON) has qualified for her second Paralympic final of these Games, finishing second in her heat of the women’s T64 100m sprint. Her time of 13.22 was fourth-best overall in qualifying. The final will take place on Friday evening in Tokyo.

Also in competition, wheelchair racer Jessica Frotten (Whitehorse, YT) was eighth in the women’s T53 400m final, her first Paralympic final.

“I was just so excited to make it into the final. I feel like I had more in me, and I wish I could have put a little more out there, but I’m super happy with it,” said Frotten. “It is so wet. I was slipping a little on the back corner, so that makes it a little slower, too.”

Para Swimming
Aurélie Rivard’s march to the podium continued Thursday, as she added medal No. 5 to her Tokyo haul with a silver in the women’s 100m backstroke S10 – her best-ever finish in this event. She was fifth at the turn, but a powerful final 50 metres catapulted her into second with a personal best time of 1:08.94. She now has two gold, one silver, and two bronze at the Games, a medal for each event in which she has competed. As swimming heads into its last day on Friday, Rivard has one race still to come, the 200m individual medley SM10.

“The medal was unexpected, I was aiming for a podium but I’m really happy to have gotten silver,” said Rivard. “The race was awesome, I finished really well. I’m really pleased with the way I raced, even though I had no idea where I was in the field until I touched the wall. It’s a PB [personal best], I haven’t been under 1:09.00 in my entire life, so overall I’m just really pleased with my first medal in the 100 back ever.”

In other results, in the women’s 4x100m medley relay final, Danielle Kisser (Delta, BC), Katarina Roxon (Kippens, NL), Morgan Bird (Calgary, AB), and Abi Tripp (Kingston, ON) were disqualified from the race after originally posting a seventh-place result, while Angela Marina (Cambridge, ON) finished fifth in her heat of the women’s 100m backstroke S14 and did not advance to the final.

Para Canoe
On a rainy day in Tokyo, all three of Canada’s three Para canoe athletes raced at the Paralympic Games for the first time and will move into the semifinals of their respective events.

Brianna Hennessy (Ottawa, ON), the lone Canadian competing in two boats, finished third in the heats of both the women’s VL2 200m and KL1 200m heats.

“Our main focus at the race was to execute our game plan that we had strategized and practiced in the months coming up to the Games start to finish and get all of the pre-race jitters out,” said Hennessy. “Now we can build on that in the days to come.”

In the women’s kayak KL2 200m heats, Andrea Nelson (Markham, ON) was also third. She finished in fifth overall at this event in the 2019 world championships.

Mathieu St-Pierre (Shawinigan, QC) was fifth in his heat of the men’s va’a VL2 200m.

Para Badminton
Canada’s first ever Paralympian in the sport of Para badminton, Olivia Meier (Winnipeg, MB) made her debut on Thursday. In her first match, she took Thailand’s Chanida Srinavakul to a deciding third set before ultimately falling 2-1 in a hard-fought duel. Then, against the reigning world championship bronze medallist Helle Sofie Sagoey of Norway, she lost in straight sets. The 22-year-old’s record is 0-2 after the first day of group play, with one match remaining.

Boccia
Canada’s BC4 pairs team, comprised of Iulian Ciobanu (Montreal), Marco Dispaltro (Montreal), and Alison Levine (Montreal), is 1-1 after the first day of group play.

They opened on a winning note with a solid 9-4 win over Portugal.

“We’re very happy to start the pairs tournament strong with a great win to set us up for the rest of the tournament,” said Levine. “We played with confidence, capitalized on their mistakes, and showed what we came here to do.”

Levine expected a tougher test against Brazil, and that proved true as Canada dropped a close-as-could-be 4-3 decision in an exciting match that was decided in a one-point final end. The Canadians have two matches remaining on Friday. The top two finishers in their pool will advance to the semifinals.

Para Cycling
Thursday marked the final day of competition for Canada’s Para cyclists.

In rough weather conditions, Shelley Gautier (Niagara Falls, ON) posted a Top 5 result, finishing the women’s T1-2 road race in 1:32:08. In the same event, Marie-Eve Croteau (Quebec City, QC) did not finish.

“I felt good today. It was very competitive today, and I was able to take advantage of curves and turns and wet weather,” said Gautier. “I just love racing in the rain because it doesn’t bother me and I was able to do very well.”

Keely Shaw (Midale, SK), who was Canada’s first medallist of Tokyo 2020 with a bronze in the track individual pursuit on day one, finished 13th in the women’s C4 road race, while Ross Wilson (Sherwood Park, AB) did not finish in the men’s C1-3 category.