The New Zealand Paralympic Team is on the board at the Paris Paralympics courtesy of track cyclist Anna Taylor.
Taylor, NZ Paralympian No 225, secured a heartwarming silver medal in the women’s C4 3000m individual pursuit final at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome on Friday (Saturday NZ Time).
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In the gold medal race, Taylor was lapped by Australian gold medallist Emily Petricola, but the 33-year-old Para cyclist from Cambridge was rewarded thanks to a brilliant ride in qualification after she sliced more than six seconds from her national record, recording 3 minutes 42.137 seconds.
Taylor made a scintillating start in the final, opening out a sizeable early lead and at 1000m the New Zealander held a narrow advantage. However, Petricola the defending champion who had set a world record of 3:35.856 in the qualification, took control in the second kilometre.
Pouring on a relentless pace the Australian caught Taylor around 2500m to signal the end of the race but the Kiwi would not be denied a stunning silver.
Taupō-raised Taylor was formerly a non-disabled rower, who earned a scholarship in that sport to attend Oregon State University. While in the US, she overcame thyroid cancer before later undergoing emergency decompression disc surgery and obtained an Acute Cauda Equina Syndrome – which has caused a weakness in the left leg and minor weakness in the right.
Facing her health challenges since Tokyo 2020, the 33-year-old said: “To even come back for a second Paralympic Games (is amazing) but then to podium, I am overjoyed. It is unreal, like living a dream.
“The gameplan was to give everything I have to get in the gold medal race, and it was a huge PB. I am glad it worked out that way.
“I am just grateful that all the work I have put in has paid off because that is not always the case. I am glad everything held together. My family being here means everything to me. They’ve supported me regardless, been my champion through some tough and dark times.
Also in the velodrome, Paralympic debutant Devon Briggs defied a fractured sacrum and dislocated coccyx to battle through the pain barrier and only narrowly miss a place in the bronze medal race of the men’s C3 3000m individual pursuit.
The 20-year-old Cambridge-based athlete, who sustained the injuries in a crash in his final Pre-Games training session in Switzerland, recorded 3:27.017 to place fifth overall, just 0.077 shy of fourth and a place in the bronze medal ride.
Briggs, who has three further events on the programme at Paris 2024, said: “My back didn’t feel right but I just tried to push through the pain. I got comfortable on pace, but the power just wasn’t there in the legs. It is a little bit tough to miss out on the bronze medal ride but with two world records set in qualification racing is next level here.
“The accident happened at a bad time, but the team around me have been amazing in trying to get me here, they never gave up on me getting to the start line.”
NZ Paralympian No 148 Michael Johnson, who is competing at a New Zealand record-equalling sixth Paralympic Games, performed with distinction to finish fifth in the R2 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2 final to narrowly miss out on what would have been a fourth Paralympic medal in this event.
The 50-year-old from Waiuku had earlier advanced to the final in eighth, progressing to the medal round by a margin of 0.1pts. However, from the early stages of the 24-shot final he looked assured and was firmly in the medal hunt.
Unfortunately, his 14th shot of 9.6pts was to cost him and he was eliminated after the 18th shot to place fifth with a final score of 188.9.
“My immediate reflections are that I am incredibly proud of myself,” said Johnson. “I started off with two lots of five series shots and I was just thinking about shooting average shots because I knew if I did I would do quite well. To finish fifth, one place better than Tokyo, I am stoked with that, and it puts me in good stead for my next two events.”
NZ Paralympian No 164 Cameron Leslie opened his campaign at Paris 2024 by placing seventh in the final of the men’s 100m freestyle S4, registering a time of 1:24.03.
The 34-year-old three-time Paralympic champion advanced sixth-fastest for the final after a heat swim of 1:24.22 and he made a rapid start in the final, hitting the 50m mark in third. However, in a high-quality final he was to finish off the podium.
Leslie, who competes in three further events at Paris 2024, said: “The first 50m felt good but that’s a strength of mine these days, my safe space, my happy place but 15 to 20 metres off the wall I started to tighten up and really struggled. It was a hard result to swallow in terms of the time. I was hoping for better.
“Today has blown some of the cobwebs out it has given some footage to analyse in terms of my race paced and my breathing patterns and leading into the next race which is the 200m. We’ve been doing a lot of 200m freestyle training so maybe I’m more geared towards that and the sprint side of things.”
In her Paralympic debut, fellow swimmer Gabby Smith delivered a performance to be proud of by finishing seventh in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB9 final.
The 18-year-old Christchurch-based athlete enjoyed a good outing from lane one, stopping the clock in 1:20.72 to finish behind the gold medallist Chantelle Zijderveld of the Netherlands (1:13.74).
Smith, who has two further events on the programme at Paris 2024, said: “I’m proud to be here on the world stage competing alongside these amazing athletes. My race execution wasn’t spot on tonight and the result showed that. It was hard to prepare for something of this scale, the crowds are insane.”
Josh Willmer produced an outstanding display in the heats of the men’s 100m breaststroke SB8 to hack 0.67 seconds from his national record, registering 1:12.73 but just missed out on a spot in the final by one place.
The 19-year-old Aucklander, who memorably claimed a gold medal in this event at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, reached the 50m turn well-positioned in third place, and in a highly competitive opening heat placed fifth.
Willmer recorded the ninth-quickest time across the two heats to just miss out on the medal race but had had the consolation of setting a New Zealand record mark.
Wojtek Czyz put in a mighty effort in his second Group B match in the men’s singles SL3 but ultimately went down to a 21-16 21-10 defeat to Olesksandr Chyrkov.
Two defeats out of two leaves the Kiwi Para badminton ace all but out of contention for a medal but this was a battling performance from the 44-year-old following his opening match defeat to Briton Daniel Bethell.
Hamilton-based Czyz, who only took up the sport of Para badminton three years ago, matched his Ukrainian opponent for much of the first set but paid for a number of unforced errors. As the game developed, Chyrkov, the European silver medallist, drew upon his superior experience to secure the victory.
Czyz plays Daisuke Fujihara of Japan in his final group game on day three on Saturday.
Five NZ Paralympic Team athletes compete across five different sports on day three of the Paris Paralympics.
Alongside Czyz, Briggs returns to the track in the men’s C1-3 1000m time trial, while in the pool, Auckland-based Tupou Nieufi, NZ Paralympian No 211, defends her women’s 100m backstroke S8 title – with both heats and final on day three.
NZ's first Para athletics performer competes at Paris 2024 as Hamilton-based Danielle Aitchison takes to the starting blocks for the heats of women’s 200m T36.
The 23-year-old claimed a silver medal in this event at Tokyo 2020 and at the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships she snared women’s 200m T35 gold in a world record time.
Para shooter Neelam O'Neill will also be in action as she makes history as the first-ever New Zealand women's pistol shooter to compete at a Paralympics. The 31-year-old Whangarei-raised and Auckland-based competitor is in qualification mode for the P2 women’s 10m air pistol SH1 – hoping to battle her way into the eight-strong final later in the day.
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