Paris 2024: Para triathletes gear up for glory, wheelchair rugby teams go for gold
Day 5 promises to serve up excitement in Para triathlon and plenty of intensity on the wheelchair rugby court 02 Sep 2024
Para triathlon is set to kick off on Monday after a postponement because of poor water quality.
All 11 Para triathlon races will be held on day five, pending water quality tests.
There will be about 120 athletes competing over a three-part course featuring a 750m swim in the River Seine and a 20km cycle down the famous Champ-Elysees, the Avenue Montaigne and Pont des Invalides. Para athletes will then embark on a 5km run to the Quai d'Orsay before returning to Pont Alexandre.
France’s flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony, Alexis Hanquinquant, goes into the men’s PTS4 event as the gold medal favourite.
He has not lost a race since Tokyo 2020, and he aims to continue this record in front of a home crowd in Paris.
“The preparation has gone really well. We have a great French team. We’re in a good position to win medals - we’re at home,” Hanquinquant said ahead of the Games.
Refugee Paralympic Team athlete Ibrahim Al Hussein will race in the men’s PTS3 event. Paris 2024 will be the third Paralympics for Al Hussein, who competed in Para swimming at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
‘Murderball’ medals up for grabs
There will be plenty of thrills and spills as wheelchair rugby goes out with a bang.
Australia is set to play Great Britain in the bronze medal showdown at Champ-de-Mars Arena on Monday.
The Steelers from Down Under hope to regroup after a crushing one-point 52-51 loss to Japan on Sunday.
"It's hurting really hard right now because we were in the position to give ourselves the opportunity to win the game, and we just couldn't close it out," Australian player Beau Vernon told reporters.
“We don't want to go home empty-handed.”
His teammate Ryley Batt said: “It sucks. It hurts. The fairytale finish isn't quite there.”
Japan and the USA will do battle for gold.
“A lot of fans came to Paris from Japan, and many fans are supporting us from home. We can’t control the colour of the medal we are winning but, with our supporters by our side, we will make a bigger effort to claim gold. We want to get our best result and share our happiness with our fans,” Ike Yukinobu told reporters.
Full wheelchair rugby programme
Para badminton’s grand finale
Don’t miss the last of the Para badminton action on Monday.
It will be an all-Indonesian affair when Hikmat Ramdani and Leani Ratri Oktila play off against Fredy Setiawan and Khalimatus Sadiyah in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 gold medal match.
The foursome faced off earlier this year with Ramdani and Oktila victorious.
Oktila won two gold medals at the BWF Para Badminton World Championships 2024, becoming the most successful female Para athlete in badminton history with a staggering six World titles to her name.
Meanwhile, Chinese fans will also have split loyalties when Liu Yu Tong comes face-to-face with compatriot Li Hongyan in the gold medal clash for the women's singles WH2 category.
In the men’s singles SL3 gold medal match, India’s Kumar Nitesh hopes to upset Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell in what could be a nail-biter.
Bethell won a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics and hopes to go one better in Paris.
"It's amazing but I keep my feet on the floor because I've not just come here to get to the final, I've come here to get the gold medal," Bethell told reporters.
“My routines have been working really well, so it's just about sticking to my game plan. The thing I've been doing all week is just to enjoy being on the court.”
