From one of our special correspondents in Paris
With seven medals already won, French swimming was off to a great start in these Paralympic Games. Here are three more! The evening of Tuesday, September 3 was almost perfect for the Blues, with three medals in as many finals, in the always incredible atmosphere of the Paris Défense Arena. We can only regret that none of them were gold.
After gold, silver for Ugo Didier
Right from the start of the evening, Ugo Didier got the French team off to a good start, with silver in the 100m backstroke S9. With the second best time in the series (1′ 02” 89), he improved his mark (1′ 01” 48) thanks in particular to a big effort in the last 25 metres to overtake the Australian Timothy Hodge. But that was not enough to beat the Belarusian Yahor Shchalkanau, who swims under the neutral banner (1′ 00” 76), already the fastest in the series.
Gold in the 400m S9 on Thursday, the 22-year-old Frenchman would have liked to taste the same metal this Tuesday, but this medal “still has a nice flavor because this morning (Tuesday morning)I found that it wasn’t going the way I wanted, he says. It was a little better there, but even if I finished strongly in the last 25 meters, it was clearly lacking.”
Between the series and the final, Ugo Didier still had time to watch the end of the match of his little brother Lucas, who entered the competition in para-table tennis and qualified for the quarter-finals. “It’s a lot of emotions to see your brother competing in the Paralympic Games. I hope he goes as far as possible.”
First medal for Laurent Chardard
For his part, Laurent Chardard won his first ever Paralympic medal, bronze, in the 50m butterfly S6. Third in the series, he stayed in the final, in 31”65, behind the Chinese Jingang Wang (31”53) and the Colombian Nelson Crispin Corzo (31”24). “It’s not necessarily what I came looking for but I’m really happy with myself, because in Tokyo, I had 4e. I don’t necessarily have a great time but already, I’m very happy to get on the box”réagissait-il.
Four finals, four medals for Alex Portal
Finally, for his fourth and final race of the Games, Alex Portal completed his haul: after silver in the 100m butterfly and the 400m (where he shared the podium with his brother Kylian), bronze in the 100m backstroke, here is silver in the 200m medley (2′ 06”66). “Three silvers and one bronze, these are crazy Games! I gave it my all, I almost did my best time, I did three in the other three races. I’m not leaving with the medal I came for, but hey I’m not going to complain, four medals is double what I had in Tokyo. And it’s huge to do three silvers behind a guy like Boki.”
Because yes, once again, the Frenchman could do nothing against his great rival Ihar Boki, winner in 2′ 02” 03, a new world record. The Belarusian, also under neutral banner, has just won his 21e Paralympic title! “He has monstrous aquatic qualities in all strokes, we see it with this world record. On the one hand, I’m ultra-proud to be able to swim with a guy like that, but on the other, sometimes I get a little pissed offsourit Alex Portal. But at least it pushes me every day. And I am convinced that one day, I will have it.”
In any case, the three French people appreciated the enormous support from the public. “I don’t know if I made France proud, but France made me proud. I’m proud to be French, to see that this crowd responded, that they now know about para-sports.”summed up Ugo Didier. And the party is not over, since there are still four days of para-swimming, with many more chances for French medals!
Valentin Giraud
