Paralympic fencing star Bebe Vio in shock defeat, Storey slams cycling course

PARIS: Star Italian wheelchair fencer Bebe Vio suffered a shock defeat at the Paralympics on Wednes­day but British cycling great Sarah Storey won her 18th gold — then slammed the “appalling” course.
Storey, who is competing in her ninth Paralympics, dominated the C5 time trial in the Paris suburbs ahead of French hope Heidi Gaugain.
But Storey, 46, said the 14.1 kilometres course was “appalling” and that she had never raced on a Games course shorter than 22km — and this was the fifth time in a row she had won this race.
“This is the shortest Paralympic time trial we have ever had, and I think it’s a real shame because we don’t get to showcase para-sport in the way we want to,” Storey said.
“You’ll have to ask organisers. There’s plenty of time in the day for us to do two laps like the men. Having fought so hard for parity in women’s cycling, to not have it is a real disappointment. I really hope that they never do this to the women again because I think it’s been appalling.”
Storey, who was born without a functioning left hand, has now won 29 Paralympics medals of all colours since she made her debut at the 1992 Barcelona Games in the sport of swimming aged 14.
US cyclist Oksana Masters, who was born in Ukraine with birth defects believed to be linked to the Chernobyl nucl­ear disaster, including missing thumbs and weight-bearing bones in her legs, claimed the seventh Paralympic gold of her career by winning the H4-5 category.
The 35-year-old, who was adopted by an American family, has previously won medals in rowing and in a range of winter sports including cross-country skiing.
Another of the global stars of Paralympism, Beatrice ‘Bebe’ Vio, was expected to easily defend her title in the women’s foil category B.
But the Italian, who uses prosthetic arms after having all four limbs amputated when she contracted meningitis at the age of 11, was beaten 15-9 by Xiao Rong of China in the semi-finals
South Africa’s Donald Ramphadi and Lucas Sithole became the first athletes from the African continent to win a Paralympic medal in wheelchair tennis. They edged Brazil’s Leandro Pena and Mane Silva 6-2, 6-4, 10-8 in the quad doubles to win bronze.
Meanwhile, host nation France surpassed the number of gold medals they won three years ago in Tokyo when Alexandre Leaute’s victory in the C2 time trial moved them onto 12 golds. They added three more in the afternoon.
China led the medals table with 56 golds ahead of the evening session, with Great Britain second on 31 golds and the USA third with 24.
On Tuesday, American amputee athlete Ezra Frech cemented his status as a new Paralympics star as he added a sparkling high jump title to his 100 metres crown, while Chinese swimmers gobbled up medals in the pool.
Frech, jumping with a prosthetic blade, cleared a Paralympic record height of 1.94m in the T63 high jump event to win his second gold in Paris.
The 19-year-old Californian, who was born with congenital differences that left him without a knee or fibula in his left leg and without fingers on his left hand, had three unsuccessful efforts at bettering his own world record of 1.97m but could not clear 1.98m.
After he made his final attempt, he ran into the arms of his watching parents in the Stade de France just as he had after winning a surprise gold in the T63 men’s 100m 24 hours earlier.
At the La Defense Arena pool, China won four of the 15 golds on offer and swept the medals in two finals.
China’s first one-two-three came in the men’s 50m backstroke S5 as Yuan Weiyi took gold, Guo Jincheng silver and Wang Lichao bronze.
The real highlight came in the women’s race of the classification as world record holder Lu Dong defended her crown in emphatic fashion with He Shenggao in second place and Liu Yu third.
Back at the Stade de France, Swiss wheelchair racer Catherine Debrunner won her third gold of these Games in the T54 1500m — and turned her attention to three more events.
Debrunner has already taken gold in the 800m T53 event and the 5000m T54 final and will now aim for glory in the 100m, 400m and the marathon for a remarkable six-gold haul.
But there was more disappointment for her Swiss teammate, wheelchair racing great Marcel Hug, who had to settle for the silver medal for the second time at the Paris Games.
Having been beaten by a late surge from the USA’s Daniel Romanchuk in the T54 5,000m final on Saturday, Hug was undone in the 1500m T54 by a devastatingly fast last lap from China’s Hua Jin.
Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2024