RIO DE JANEIRO — Day eight of the Rio Paralympics saw 54 gold medals awarded across eight sports, including canoeing’s Paralympic debut.
Australian amputee sprinter Scott Reardon charged to gold in the T42 100m final, setting a new Paralympic record 14 years on from the brutal accident that could have ended his sporting life for good, according to a report on CNN website.
Aged just 12, the New South Wales schoolboy got his shoelace caught in the power take-off shaft of a tractor, severing his right leg through the knee.
But, having always loved water-skiing and running, he resolved not to let the accident shape his existence, and was walking again within a week.
He won the first of two water-skiing world championships on one leg five years later, before switching to athletics.
Reardon won silver at London 2012, and is now champion in the blue riband event.
Sharing silver, Denmark’s Daniel Wagner and Team GB’s Richard Whitehead both crossed the line just 0.06 seconds behind — the latter finishing with the characteristic burst to the line that saw him claim gold in the 200m earlier this week.
Two wonder goals from the mercurial Jefinho Gonçalves ensured the Paralympics’ host nation will battle it out for gold in the blind 5-a-side football final.
Victory over China in the semis guaranteed at least a silver medal, and means three-time champion Brazil has reached the final in every Paralympic Games since the sport’s introduction at Athens 2004.
After winning three time-trial titles Wednesday, Germany continued to excel in the hand cycling road races.
A Paralympic champion in Beijing and London, Andrea Eskau started the gold rush with a time of 1:37:07, edging out Dutchwomen Laura De Vaan and Jennette Jansen to win the women’s H5 competition.
With winter medals in the 5km cross-country skiing and Paralympic biathlon to her name already, the 45-year-old is truly a versatile champion.
Soon after, compatriot Christiane Reppe also triumphed as the H1-4 road race went down to a similarly dramatic sprint finish.
Vico Merklein completed Germany’s golden treble with victory in the men’s H4 road race.
He was made a paraplegic after a motorcycle accident in 1997, the day before his 20th birthday, but Merklein never lost his need for speed.
Jeanette Chippington made her Paralympic bow as a swimmer in Seoul 28 years ago, but Thursday she made history as the first gold medalist in para-canoeing.
Crossing the line a mere tenth of a second ahead of Germany’s Edina Muller in the KL1 division, the 46-year-old became Great Britain’s 100th medalist of the Rio Games, sparking a golden morning on the Lagoa lagoon.
Just 16 minutes later on the water, Emma Wiggs added to GB’s haul after registering a new personal best of 53.288 seconds in the KL2 final.
Britain added a third canoeing gold when former mountain biker Anne Dickins triumphed in the KL3 canoe final.
Not many athletes can beat their personal best at the age of 43.
But Kenyan long-distance runner Henry Kirwa has achieved just that in the men’s T12/13 5,000m, winning himself a gold medal in the process. The T12/13 category is for visually impaired athletes.
Kirwa powered to a comfortable victory in 14:17:32, beating 35-year-old defending champion El Amin Chentouf from Morocco who had to settle for silver with 14:21.04.
The bronze medal went to 26-year-old Bilel Aloui of Tunisia, who finished in 14:33:33 but set a world record — Aloui’s T13 impairment being stronger than the two other medalists. — Agencies
