Para Athletics: A World Record Breaking Start To The Games

The Para Athletics has begun at the Paris 2024 Paralympics! 

There are 86 Para Athletics gold medal races (compared to 27 medals in the Olympics), which makes for an action-packed schedule on the track, with medal races taking place from day one – today there were six golds won. In each distance on the track, there are multiple races for different athlete classifications – check this out if you want to know what the Para Athletic classifications mean.  

And have a look here if you want to see the full Para Athletic schedule. 

ALL THE MEDALS ON DAY ONE!

It was a brilliant start to the championship in the Men’s 5000m – T11. With a guide runner by his side, Brazil’s Julio Caesar Agripino dos Santos ran 14:48, breaking the world record by five seconds. Japan’s Kenya Karasawa was second, and Brazil’s Jacques Yeltsin was third. All three medalists ran under the previous world record. 

In the Women’s 100m – T35 final, China’s Zhou Xia won (13.58 seconds) ahead of China’s Guo Qianqian and India’s Preethi Pal. Zhou Xia was the pre-race favourite as the world and paralympic record holder, a time she set winning gold in the Tokyo Paralympics.

Into the evening session and despite it being a rainy night in the French capital, the Stade de France was packed with cheering supporters. 

The Men’s 400m – T52 final was the first wheelchair final of the Games and it was won by pre-race favourite Belgium’s Maxime Carabin, the world record holder who had set a new Paralympic record earlier in the day in qualifying. He accelerated down the back straight, flying into the lead which he held to finish in 55.10, ahead of Japan’s Tomoki Sato (56.26), with countryman Tomoya Ito in third (1:01.08). At 61-years-old, Ito made it a 38-year age gap between first and third!

In the Men’s 100m – T37 final, which is for runners with neurological impairments, Brazil’s Ricardo Gomes de Mendonca won the gold in 11.07, with Indonesia’s Saptoyogo Purnomo in second, and Andrei Vdovin, a neutral athlete, in third.

Runners with upper limb impairments raced in the Men’s 100m – T47 final, and it was more medals for Brazil. Petrucio Ferreira Dos Santos, the world and paralympic record holder, won his third gold in three successive Paralympic Games in a time of 10.68 – and celebrated with a back flip! USA’s Korban Best won silver, with Morocco’s Aymane El Haddaoui winning bronze. 

Ferreira Dos Santos will be hoping for more medals as he takes part in the 400m and the universal relay. 

The Women’s 200m – T37 completed the medals for the evening. The three medalists from Tokyo were on the start line, and it was a second successive gold for China’s Xiaoyan Wen, who set a new Paralympic record of 25.86. Ukraine’s Nataliia Kobzar was second, with China’s Fender Jiang winning bronze, adding to her silver from Tokyo. 

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Para Athletics is on every day in Paris until Sunday 8 September. You can see the full Para Athletics schedule here, including more information on what the athlete classifications mean. 

Image Getty Images Ezra Shaw