Globetrotting Canadian Para athletes on the podium this weekend in boccia, swimming and athletics

May 28, 2018

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Marylou Martineau of Quebec City and Hanif Mawji of Burnaby, B.C. each won two medals this past weekend at the BISFed 2018 Sao Paulo Boccia Regional Open boccia tournament.

Martineau helped Canada to the BC3 pairs silver with Philippe Lord of Blainville, Que., and Eric Bussière of Verchères, Que. The Canadians lost the final to number-one ranked Brazil 6-5 in extra ends.

“We weren’t able to get the last point, but even with the loss I’m very proud of my teammates,” said Bussière. “I still consider ourselves as winners for this tournament. We learned a lot and this gives us hope and confidence for upcoming tournaments.”

Martineau added a bronze in BC3 singles.

Mawji took bronze in both the BC1 singles and in the BC1/2 team competition with Benoit Ostiguy of Montreal and Josée Lamothe of Trois-Rivieres, Que.

Lakatos, Frotten, Smeenk shine for Canada at Grand Prix

NOTTWILL, Switzerland – Paralympic Games champion Brent Lakatos of Dorval, Que., and Jessica Frotten of Whitehorse won three medals apiece this past weekend at Para athletics Grand Prix competition.

Lakatos took top spot in the men’s T53 800-m wheelchair race in 1:37.21, the fastest clocking in the world this year. He added a silver in the 400-m and bronze in the 5000-m. He was also fourth in the 1500-m.

‘’I need to work on my starts,’’ said Lakatos. ‘’It was a good but it can be better. This year I’ve trained much more on the road preparing for marathon and other distance races. I’m glad to be back on track but it was a totally different preparation for me.’’

Frotten notched a silver in the women’s T53 400-m and bronze medals in the 200-m and 800-m.

Austin Smeenk of Oakville, Ont., added two podium finishes with a silver in the T34 100-m and bronze in the 200-m.

Lee Leclerc of Baie-St-Paul, Que., raced to four personal bests in his T34 races including a victory in the 5000-m.

Routliffe caps promising World Series with gold

LIGNANO SIBBIADORO, Italy – Tess Routliffe of the Swimming Canada High Performance Centre-Quebec won the gold medal in the women’s 50-m butterfly on Sunday to cap the fourth stop on the Para swimming World Series circuit.

Routliffe, from Caledon, Ont., clocked 38.65 seconds for the victory. Denise Grahl of Germany was second in 39.56, Trinh Thi Bich Nhu of Vietnam third in 43.75 and Sabrina Duchesne of Quebec City fourth in 45.17. 

‘’Tess was resilient,’’ said Mike Thompson, HPC-Quebec’s head coach. ‘’She was really focused in on the fact that she had some strong opposition and she took advantage of that and swam very well.’’

The races on the World Series circuit are multiclass therefore the ranking was based on which swimmer is closest to the world record in their disability category.

Triple Paralympic Games champion Aurélie Rivard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., was a double medallist with a silver in the 50-m freestyle and bronze in the 400-m freestyle. 

Tammy Cunnington of Red Deer, Alta., added a silver in the 50-m breaststroke while Angela Marina was also second in the 200-m freestyle in a Canadian record 2:17.16 for the women’s S14 class.