USA take first Paralympic track and field golds but China win big

Paris: The United States won their first two track and field titles of the Paris Paralympics on Saturday but China piled on the medals to stretch their lead in the table.

On the same track at the Stade de France where his compatriot Noah Lyles won the Olympic gold nearly four weeks ago, Jaydin Blackwell charged to the men's T38 100m final in a world record time of 10.64sec.

Blackwell, who has cerebral palsy, donned a pair of sunglasses to celebrate his victory.

"I had to bring something over here to put a little pizzazz into things," the 20-year-old said.

"It was the perfect race, but I was just focused on what I had to do and get to the line as fast as possible."

There was more USA success as wheelchair racer Daniel Romanchuk upstaged reigning champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland in an exciting men's 5000m T54 final.

Romanchuk, a 26-year-old who was born with spina bifida, burst past five-time gold medallist Hug in the home straight, leaving the Swiss in silver medal position while Faisal Alrajehi took a rare Paralympic medal for Kuwait in third.

British veteran David Weir, a multiple Paralympic medallist, faded and finished eighth.

Romanchuk has impressive range having taken gold at 400m at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and has also won the Chicago, New York and Boston marathon wheelchair races.

Chinese strength

China's 14th gold medal overall of these Games came thanks to javelin thrower Yuping Zhao, who set a world record of 47.06 metres in the F12 category for athletes with a moderate visual impairment.

China's Yuping Zhao gold medalist celebrates on the podium during the victory ceremony for the women's F13 javelin throw final athletics event at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris on August 31, 2024. (Photo by Franck FIFE / AFP)

China had moved up to 20 golds midway through Saturday evening's action, showing that the country that has topped the medals table at every Paralympics since Athens in 2004 is well on the way to repeating that feat.

In the pool, Brazilian swimmer Gabriel dos Santos Araujo, known as Gabrielzinho, won his second title of the Paris Games by taking the 50m backstroke gold in the S2 category.

Gabrielzinho has stumps where his arms should be and his legs are atrophied, although he can walk.

In other sports, the USA men's wheelchair basketball team thrashed the Netherlands 60-34 with Brian Bell top-scoring with 18 points to make it two wins out of two as the Americans stayed firmly on track to retain their title.

The country expected to give the Americans a run for their money, Great Britain, were convincing 88-58 winners over Canada.

In men's sitting volleyball, gold medal hopefuls Bosnia booked their place in the semi-finals, while Egypt kept their hopes of reaching the last four alive by beating hosts France.

Reigning champions Iran return to action on Sunday.

In track cycling, home favourite Dorian Foulon sent the Paris velodrome into raptures by defending his C5 4000m individual pursuit title in emphatic fashion by beating Ukraine's Yehor Dementyev.

He said the contrast with the gold he won three years ago in Tokyo, where Covid restrictions meant there were no spectators, was huge.

"The big difference is the crowd, it's crazy. People had t-shirts with my name on. What is this madness?" a tearful Foulon joked after the medal ceremony.

There was a setback for the organisers as the final training session for Sunday's triathlon events was cancelled due to concerns about the water quality of the River Seine.

The training session had been due to take place on Saturday morning but was cancelled "as a precaution" after heavy rain in the French capital which can stir up pollution.

The issue of the water quality of the Seine also dogged the Olympics, although the triathlons and marathon swimming events did eventually go ahead.