Paris Paralympics Guity wins battle of amputee sprinters

Sherman Guity of Costa Rica was a clear winner of the eagerly awaited men’s T64 100m at the Paralympics on Monday, leaving the world’s fastest amputee sprinters in his wake.
Guity crossed the line in a Paralympic record of 10.65sec ahead of world champion Maxcel Amo Manu from Italy who clocked 10.76sec. Reigning Paralympic champion Felix Streng of Germany picked up the bronze medal one hundredth of a second further back.
“I am very happy with this result. I didn’t expect it. I ran against very strong athletes. It was a Paralympic final and I had to give it my all,” 27-year-old Guity said.
Two-time champion Jonnie Peacock of Great Britain had to settle for fifth place in 10.91sec and US sprinter Hunter Woodhall, whose wife is newly crowned women’s Olympic long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall, was sixth in 10.96sec.
Earlier, 19-year-old American Ezra Frech won the first Paralympic title of his career by taking a closely-fought T63 100m in a personal best time of 12.06sec. The Californian, an above-the-knee amputee, ran into the arms of his family in the front row at the Stade de France after crossing the line.
Frech revealed he had only been using the 100m as preparation for his favourite event, the high jump, today. “I was treating this as like a warm-up for high jump. Go out there, get the blood flowing, have a good race, and then come back tomorrow and win high jump,” he said. “But at about 50 metres, I was like, whoa, I’m in this, I got a good start, I’ve done everything right... I felt like everybody (else in the race) was sleeping on me. I’m happy with the gold, but I’m definitely not satisfied. I’m still hungry. Tomorrow night, I’ll get the gold in the high jump.” Frech was also fifth in the long jump earlier in these Games.
Gabrielzinho wins third swimming gold
Brazilian swimmer Gabrielzinho said he felt like “a rocketman” after he won his third gold medal of the Paris Paralympics when he raced to victory in the 200 metres freestyle S2 final with another remarkable performance.
The 22-year-old, who has no arms or hands and whose legs are atrophied, clocked 3min 58.92sec in the La Defense Arena, with neutral athlete Vladimir Danilenko and Chile’s Alberto Abarza Diaz finishing second and third respectively. The third gold for the Brazilian, who full name is Gabriel Geraldo dos Santos Araujo, follows his successes in the 100m backstroke and 50m backstroke.
“It’s a feeling of a mission accomplished, a duty accomplished. Because I came to Paris to get the three golds,” said Gabrielzinho. “So I’m really happy.”
At Tokyo 2020, the Brazilian picked up two golds and one silver. Now he has achieved his goal of going one better. Speaking after the race, silver medallist Danilenko described Gabrielzinho as “the rocketman”.
It was a statement the Brazilian later agreed with, adding with a chuckle.