Team Canada won two more gold medals on Wednesday at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. Greg Stewart of Victoria, British Columbia won the gold medal in the men’s shot put in the F46 classification, and Nicholas Bennett of Parksville, British Columbia won the gold medal in the men’s 200 metre individual medley swimming SM14 classification.
Stewart had a throw of 16.38 metres. Sachin Sarjerao Khilari of India won the silver medal with a throw of 16.32 metres. Luka Bakovic of Croatia won the bronze medal with a throw of 16.27 metres. Stewart reached the podium by 0.72 metres as Joshua Cinnamo of the United States finished in fourth place with a throw of 15.66 metres. Stewart was born without one arm. At 7’2″, Stewart previously won the gold medal in the men’s shot put at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
Bennett had a time of 2:06.05. Rhys Darbey of Great Britain won the silver medal with a time of 2:08.61. Ricky Betar of Australia won the bronze medal with a time of 2:08.69. Bennett reached the podium by 3.81 seconds as Dmytro Vanzenko of Ukraine finished in fourth place with a time of 2:09.86. Bennett, who suffers from autism, won his second gold medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, and third overall. He previously won gold in the men’s 100 metre breaststroke on September 2 and silver in the men’s 200 metre freestyle on August 31.
Team Canada won two silver medals on Wednesday in cycling and swimming. This one was in para cycling as Nathan Clement of West Vancouver, British Columbia won silver in the men’s road time trial cycling event with a T1-2 classification. Clement, who suffered a stroke at age two which caused lack of mobility on one side, posted a second place time of 22 minutes, 53.36 classification. Jianxin Chen of China won gold with a time of 21 minutes, 35.78 seconds. Tim Celen of Belgium won the bronze medal with a time of 23 minutes, 27.64 seconds. Clement reached the podium by one minute, 10.15 seconds as Giorgio Farroni of Italy finished in fourth place with a time of 24:03.51.
In the men’s 400 metre freestyle swimming in the S8 classification, Reid Maxwell of Edmonton, Alberta won the silver medal. Maxwell had a time of 4:23.90. Alberto Amodeo of Italy won the gold medal with a time of 4:23.23. Andrei Nikolaev of Neutral Paralympic Athletes won the bronze medal with a time of 4:24.00. Maxwell reached the podium by 1.17 seconds. Noah Jaffe of the United States finished in fourth place with a time of 4:25.07. Maxwell was born with a partial leg and suffers from Prune Belly Syndrome (absence of the stomach muscles).
Meanwhile, in women’s wheelchair basketball, Canada reached the semifinals. In the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Canada beat Germany 71-53. Kady Dandeneau of Pender Island, British Columbia led Canada in scoring with 33 points. Canada next plays the Netherlands in the semifinals on Friday.Canada now has 17 medals (four gold medals, six silver medals and seven bronze medals).
