Team Canada won two bronze medals on Thursday of the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. The bronze medals came in the sports of swimming and cycling.
In para swimming, Aurelie Rivard of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec placed third in the Women’s 50m freestyle S10 classification with a time of 27.62 seconds. She reached the podium by .08 seconds. Alessia Scortechini of Italy finished in fourth place with a time of 27.7 seconds. Yi Chen of China won the gold medal with a time of 27.1 seconds. Christie Raleigh-Crossley of the United States won the silver medal with a time of 27.38 seconds. Chen’s 27.1 seconds set a World Record, which was previously set by Rivard, who set a time of 27.37 seconds at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
In para cycling, Kate O’Brien won the bronze medal in the Women’s c4/5 500 metre track cycling time trial. O’Brien of Calgary, Alberta posted a third place factored time of 36.873 seconds. Caroline Groot of the Netherlands won the gold medal with a time of 35.566 seconds. Marie Patouillet of France won the silver medal with a time of 36.7 seconds. O’Brien reached the podium by 0.314 seconds over Xiaohui Li of China, who had a fourth place time of 37.187 seconds.
In other Paralympic competition, Canada won their opening games in two team events. They beat France 10-0 in women’s goalball, and Slovenia 25-11, 25-21, 25-12 in women’s sitting volleyball.
