Team Canada won two more Paralympic gold medals on Friday. Sebastian Massabie of Surrey, British Columbia won the gold medal in the men’s 50 metre freestyle S4 classification, and Cody Fournie of Victoria, British Columbia won the gold medal in the men’s 100 metre wheelchair racing T51 classification.
Massabie, who has cerebral palsy which impacts his left side, set a world record with a time of 35.61 seconds. Amir Omer Dadaon of Israel had the old world record with a time of 36.25 seconds set on June 15, 2022 at the European Para Swimming Championships in Funchal, Portugal on June 15, 2022. Takayuki Suzuki of Japan won the silver medal with a time of 36.85 seconds. Dadaon won the bronze medal with a time of 37.11 seconds. Massabie earned a medal by 1.63 seconds over Cameron Leslie of New Zealand, who had a time of 37.24 seconds.
Fournie had a winning time of 19.63 seconds. Peter Genyn of Belgium won the silver medal with a time of 20.47 seconds. Toni Piispanen of Finland won the bronze medal with a time of 21.14 seconds. Fournie reached the podium by 2.2 seconds over Mohamed Berrahal of Algeria, who was in fourth place with a time of 21.83 seconds.
Team Canada also won a silver medal in the men’s discus F37 classification. Jesse Zesseu of Etobicoke, Ontario, who has cerebral palsy, had a throw of 53.24 metres. Tolibboy Yuldashev of Uzbekistan won the gold medal with a throw of 57.28 metres. Haider Ali of Pakistan won the bronze medal with a throw of 52.54 metres. Zesseu reached the podium by 1.87 metres. Yamato Shimbo of Japan finished in fourth place with a throw of 51.37 metres.
Canada now has 23 Paralympic medals. They have won eight gold medals, seven silver medals, and eight bronze medals.
