Paris 2024 Day 2 Recap: Para cyclists Keely Shaw and Alexandre Hayward add two bronze medals for Canada

– Alison Levine advances into boccia quarterfinals; Amanda Rummery and Brent Lakatos through to Para athletics finals
– Wins in wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball  

Paris, August 30, 2024 – The Paris 2024 Canadian Paralympic Team is up to four medals following two days of competition at the Paralympic Games, with Para cyclists Keely Shaw and Alexandre Hayward adding two bronzes on Friday. Canada also secured victories in wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball with some strong individual results in Para athletics, boccia, and Para archery. 

MEDALS WON ON AUGUST 30 

BRONZE – Keely Shaw, Para Cycling Track, Women’s C4 3000m Individual Pursuit 
BRONZE – Alexandre Hayward, Para Cycling Track, Men’s C3 3000m Individual Pursuit 

OVERALL MEDAL TOTAL

GOLD – 0
SILVER – 0
BRONZE – 4
TOTAL – 4

RESULTS SUMMARY 

Para Cycling Track
Keely Shaw is now a two-time Paralympic medallist, winning bronze in the women’s C4 3000m individual pursuit. Shaw qualified for the bronze-medal final with the third-best time in qualifying, and then secured the podium by besting American Samantha Bosco with a time of 3:46.942. The result matches her performance in this event at Tokyo 2020.  

“Winning one medal at the Paralympics is pretty incredible but to repeat three years later is absolutely incredible,” said Shaw. “I didn’t even allow myself to hope for this. The sport has come so far since Tokyo with the times getting progressively faster and faster. I was hoping just to get into the medal match.”

In his debut Games appearance, Alexandre Hayward has become a Paralympic medallist. After qualifying fourth in the men’s C3 3000m individual pursuit, Hayward powered past Spaniard Eduardo Santas Asensio in the bronze-medal final to take third position. He finished in 3:24.865. 

“The thing that saved me, I think, was the fact that during my training, I knew I could go faster than I did in qualifying,” said Hayward. “When I was at Parapan Am in Santiago last year, I did my second run faster than my first, so I really had that in the back of my mind. I tried to think about that as much as possible.” 

Para Athletics
In his Paralympic debut, Anthony Bouchard qualified for the men’s T52 400m final and finished sixth with a time of 1:04.09. This is an improvement from his eighth-place result at the 2024 world championships. In the women’s F41 shot put, Charlotte Bolton was 10^th. 

Brent Lakatos, one of Canada’s most decorated athletes, raced in his first event of Paris 2024. The 11-time Paralympic medallist and now six-time Paralympian was second in his heat in the men’s T54 5000m and qualified for Saturday night’s final. He posted a season best time of 10:35.15. 

“I had no idea what to expect,” said Lakatos. “I lined up really not knowing what to do because I haven’t raced a real 5000 since Tokyo. I didn’t know if I’d be able to qualify, I didn’t know how well I would do, I hoped I’d do well because my training has been going well since the injury. That was better than I expected, so it’s a real confidence builder for the rest of the Games.”

Amanda Rummery, in her first Paralympic appearance, finished second in her heat with a time of 59.24 seconds to advance into the women’s T47 400m final, scheduled for Saturday evening. 

“I was feeling really good going into the race,” said Rummery. “I’m very happy to get the big Q, finished second in my heat, but I’d like to adjust a few things so I can run a faster time in the final and hopefully medal.”

Para Swimming
Two Para swimmers raced in finals Friday evening with Sebastian Massabie posting Canada’s best result. In his first Paralympic final, Massabie finished fifth in the men’s 100m freestyle S4, lowering his Canadian record to 1:22.53. Canada’s co-flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony Katarina Roxon was eighth in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB8. 

In the morning, Fernando Lu in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB9 and the mixed 4x50m freestyle relay team of Massabie, Philippe Vachon, Hannah Ouellette, and Aly Van Wyck-Smart did not advance out of the heats. 

Goalball
Canada is now 1-1 in group play after a 2-1 loss to Japan on Friday. Tied at 1-1 at the half, the game came down to a late goal by Japan with under 90 seconds remaining. The team will now have a day off before wrapping up preliminary play on Sunday. 

“It was awesome execution by the whole team; Japan is a really solid defensive squad to play against, they’re ranked No. 2 in the world,” said five-time Paralympian Amy Burk. “We knew if we were going to beat them, we were going to have to start off being patient, not getting suckered into not scoring, stay calm and in control like we’ve been doing for the last while. 

“The ball just didn’t go our way on that one shot. We had multiple chances; at one point we had the ball on the goal line. It’s sport, sometimes it doesn’t always go your way, but the team held on until the final whistle, there was no giving up at all.” 

Wheelchair Rugby
Canada’s wheelchair rugby team captured its first victory of the Games, defeating Germany 54-47. Zak Madell notched 28 tries for Canada, with seven other players contributing on the offensive end as well. The squad, fifth at the Tokyo 2020 Games, is now an even 1-1 heading into its final preliminary game on Saturday against Japan. 

“It’s awesome to get that first win under the belt and be able to be part of that win and have all 12 [players] come together like that and play like we can,” said Joel Ewert, competing in his first Paralympic Games. “We showed we’re a force to be reckoned with here, and we’re ready to go for Japan.” 

Para Archery
After completing the ranking round a day earlier, Kyle Tremblay persevered through pouring rain conditions to defeat Alisina Manshaezedeh of Iran 140-135 in the 1/16 elimination to advance to the next stage of men’s compound open action. After a day off, he will next compete in the 1/8 elimination round on Sunday. 

“I was feeling a little nervous, it’s my first Paralympic match at my first Paralympic Games,” said Tremblay. “I just wanted to come out and shoot my technique, focus on my aim, and see where my arrows went. The weather change throws off your sight and your process a little bit, so it was being able to adjust to that new change as fast as possible that really made a difference for me.”

Para Rowing
In his Paralympic debut, Jacob Wassermann finished sixth in his PR1 men’s single sculls heat and will now race in the repechage on Saturday. 

“It’s good to get the first one out of the way,” said Wassermann. “The nerves sitting on that line were something I’ve never experienced before. I thought it was just going to be like any other day until you get in the booth.” 

Boccia
Alison Levine defeated Ukrainian Nataliia Konenko 5-3 in her final preliminary game to finish with a match record of 2-1 and advance into the women’s BC4 category quarterfinals.

“Tonight’s match, I just needed a win,” said Levine. “It went as I wanted it to go, I wanted the win to make it through. If I lost, I was eliminated, and I’m not here to be eliminated. It was a tough game, she played amazingly well.” 

Men’s BC4 player Iulian Ciobanu picked up his first win against Malaysian Abdul Razzaq Abdul Rahman by a score of 6-4. Now 1-1, he will wrap up preliminary play Saturday. 

In other boccia action, Danik Allard will not advance in the men’s BC2 following two losses on Friday – 11-1 to Indonesia’s Felix Ardi Yudha and 9-0 to China’s Yan Zhiqiang. Lance Cryderman also will not move on following a 5-2 defeat to Hong Kong’s John Loung in the men’s BC1. 

Wheelchair Basketball
Canada’s men’s wheelchair basketball team opened with a big 83-68 win over host nation France. Down 41-39 at the half, the Canadians – who shot 56 per cent from the field – held France to 27 points in the second half to secure the win. Colin Higgins and Patrick Anderson led the scoring for Canada with 38 and 31 points, respectively. 

“As far as the tournament goes, it’s huge,” said Anderson. “As far as memories go, I’ll never forget it. It was great to be out there, get in front of an unbelievable crowd, play in an amazing, well-played, exciting game and look up and see friends and family again up there cheering us on, having a great time. No matter what happens the rest of the tournament, I’ll always cherish this memory.”

Para Badminton
Yuka Chokyu fell to Brazilian Daniele Torres Souza as play continued in the women’s WH1 singles group stage. Chokyu, with one match remaining in Paris, pushed Souza to a third set but ultimately dropped the 2-1 decision. 

CLICK HERE for the complete results on Friday August 30.