B.C. swimmer wins Canada's first Paralympic gold medal in Paris

Nicholas Bennett takes gold in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB14 Final at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, France on September 2, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-CANADIAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE, Angela Burger

O Canada has played at the Paralympic Games in Paris for the first time.

Nicholas Bennett won Canada's first gold medal of the Paralympic Games on Monday, finishing atop the podium in the men's 100-metre breaststroke for his second medal in Paris.

"It's the joy of being able to compete against the best athletes in the world and be the best out of them," said Bennett of his tears during the national anthem. "Also the relief of finally showing the world I'm here and one of them, one of the best."

The swimmer from Parksville, B.C., was a silver medallist in the 200-metre freestyle.

Bennett, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of three, races in the S14 classification for athletes with an intellectual impairment.

The Canadian was the only man in Monday's breaststroke final to swim under one minute four seconds in a time of 1:03.98.

Jake Michel of Australia took silver in 1:04.27. Naohide Yamaguchi of Japan was the bronze medallist in 1:04.94.

Canada added two more medals to its total on Monday, both in athletics. Leanne Taylor took bronze in women's PTWC Para triathlon and Austin Smeenk earned bronze in Para Athletics, Men’s T34 100 metres.

“The atmosphere here is electric. Racing in front of a crowd is always fun, said Smeenk. "Everybody from Canada is here with me, in my heart, and even more the people who are here, watching in person, who have contributed so much."

Smeenk broke through for his first Paralympic medal in 15.19 seconds.

The three medals mean Canada has a total of 11: one gold, four silver, and six bronze.

Elsewhere, Patrick Anderson scored a team-high 17 points, and Colin Higgins and Reed De’Aeth each scored 14 as Canada wrapped up group play with a convincing 68-52 victory over Germany in men's wheelchair basketball.

Canada will face the Netherlands in Tuesday's quarterfinals.

“We couldn't have drawn that up any better just getting contributions from one through 12, and big breakout game from Reed,” said Anderson, who added seven rebounds and two assists. “That let some of our older guys get a little rest but play some meaningful minutes to stay sharp for tomorrow. We couldn't have scripted it any better.”

Also, Canada's women’s sitting volleyball team won its final match of the preliminary round 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-13) over Rwanda, earning a spot in the semifinals.

The Canadians will play its semifinals’ match on Thursday against the winner of Pool A, which is still open to China, the United States, or Italy. China leads that group but the opponent will be confirmed after Pool A wraps up preliminary play on Tuesday.

Captain Danielle Ellis had a dominant showing, with a team-leading 21 points for Canada. Julie Kozun had 12 points and both Jennifer Oakes and Sarah Melenka had 10. Oakes led the defensive charge with three blocks.

"It was kind of ugly volleyball for us and that's OK,” Melenka said. "I was sitting out there on the court and I'm just like, ‘this moment only happens every four years and just to embrace every single ball that comes over no matter what.’

"We weren't playing our best. So, it was a tough match. We had to grind it out, but we got the job done." 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2024.