PARIS: Brazilian swimmer Gabrielzinho won a remarkable third swimming gold at the Paris Paralympics on Monday while Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo became the first openly transgender athlete to compete in the Games.

Sherman Guity of Costa Rica left the world’s fastest amputee sprinters in his wake as he won the eagerly awaited men’s T64 100m, while 19-year-old Californian sprinter-jumper Ezra Frech claimed the first of what promises to be many track and field golds.

All eyes were on the pool at La Defense Arena to see 22-year-old Gabrielzinho complete a golden treble with victory in the 200 metres freestyle S2 final. Gabrielzinho, who has no arms or hands and whose legs are atrophied, clocked 3min 58.92sec ahead of neutral athlete Vladimir Danilenko.

In another outstanding swimming feat, Belarusian Ihar Boki won the 20th Paralympic gold of his career by winning the 50m freestyle for the visually impaired. On the track at the Stade de France, transgender sprinter Petrillo, 50, finished second in her heat of the T12 400 metres for the visually impaired, qualifying for the semi-finals.

But that proved a step too far and the Italian was eliminated despite running a personal best 57.58sec as she placed third and outside the places for the final. Petrillo suffers from Stargardt disease, a genetic retinal condition which leads to progressive loss of vision.

Amputee speed merchants

Guity charged to a clear victory in the men’s T64 100m, clocking a Paralympic record of 10.65sec ahead of world champion Maxcel Amo Manu from Italy who timed 10.76sec. Reigning champion Felix Streng of Germany had to settle for the bronze medal one hundredth of a second further back. “I am very happy with this result. I didn’t expect it. I ran against very strong athletes. It was a Paralympic final and I had to give it my all,” 27-year-old Guity said.

Two-time champion Jonnie Peacock of Great Britain was fifth and US sprinter Hunter Woodhall, whose wife is newly crowned women’s Olympic long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall, was sixth. A new sprint star was born as Frech won a closely-fought T63 100m final in a personal best 12.06sec.

The Californian, an above-the-knee amputee, roared with delight and ran into the arms of his family in the front row. Frech revealed he had only been using the 100m as preparation for his favorite event, the high jump.

“I was treating this as like a warm-up for high jump. Go out there, get the blood flowing, have a good race, and then come back tomorrow and win high jump,” he said. “But at about 50 metres, I was like, whoa, I’m in this, I got a good start, I’ve done everything right... I felt like everybody (else in the race) was sleeping on me.”

He pledged to make it double gold on Tuesday: “I’m definitely not satisfied. I’m still hungry. Tomorrow night, I’ll get the gold in the high jump.” The triathlon events went ahead after being postponed for 24 hours because of concerns about the water quality of the River Seine.

France’s Alexis Hanquinquant started these Paralympics as a flag bearer for his country and lighting the cauldron at the opening ceremony—on Monday he finished it by retaining his triathlon title. After defending the PTS4 title he won at Tokyo 2020, Hanquinquant, whose leg was amputated below the knee after a work accident, said: “They’ve been the perfect Games for me.”

In the wheelchair rugby final, Japan beat three-time champions the USA 48-41 to claim their first Paralympics title. Katsuya Hashimoto scored 19 tries for Japan, who had secured bronze in the past two Games. In the medals table, leaders China added another 10 golds to move onto 43 with Great Britain second on 29 golds. The USA are third with 13 golds. — AFP