British Columbia seems to be a world power in throwing events.
After BC athletes won both the men’s and women’s gold medals in hammer throw at the Olympics in Paris last month, the province has produced another throwing event world champion at the Paralympics.
Greg Stewart of Kamloops, which is where Olympic gold medallist Ethan Katzberg calls home as well, topped the podium in the men’s F46 shot put event today with a throw of 16.38 metres.
“I think it was a pretty fun competition,” said Stewart. “Our sport is growing a lot; we had three guys throw over 16 metres in this final.”
It’s the second Paralympic gold medal for the 38-year-old, who initially retired after winning gold in Tokyo but returned to competition in time to win again in Paris.
Stewart said he “wanted to come back” and plans to continue competing leading into the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
The other gold medal won for Canada on Wednesday was Nicholas Bennett, as the 20-year-old topped the podium for the second time in Paris.
The Parksville native earned the country’s first gold in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14 event on Monday, then followed it up with a victory in the men’s 200m individual medley SM14 today.
Bennett, who also has a silver medal to his name at these Games, swam to a new Paralympic record of 2:06.05 in the event, just shy of his own world record of 2:05.97.
“We just wanted to keep the energy up every night,” Bennett noted. “But seven one-hundredths off my world record, it’s a success to say the least.”
Canada’s silver medals on day seven of the Paralympics came courtesy of Reid Maxwell of St. Alberta, Alta., and another BC athlete in West Vancouver’s Nathan Clement.
Maxwell, the youngest member of the Canadian Paralympic team, swam to silver in the men’s 400m freestyle S8.
Clement earned his silver on the road, notching a second-place finish in the men’s T1-2 time trial cycling event with a time of 22:53.36.
“It's special. It's a lifetime of work,” said the soon-to-be 30 year old, who said he has “been in the Para sport journey” for nearly two decades.
On the team side of things, Canada’s women’s wheelchair basketball team followed up an exciting quarterfinal win from the men’s team on Tuesday with the same type of win 24 hours later.
Kady Dandeneau scored 33 points and added 13 rebounds, while Arinn Young registered 18 points of her own as Canada blew out Germany 71-53.
The Canadian women, who finished in fifth place three years ago in Tokyo, now turn their attention to Friday’s semifinal with dreams of playing for gold on the weekend.
