After Alexandre Léauté’s gold, the French medal tally is already better than in Tokyo… Follow the news here…

The very experienced Pierre Fairbank is still there! His time of 15.32 s on the Stade de France track, in the T53 category, allows him to qualify for the final, which will take place at 7:14 p.m. this evening.

Very touching/fair play Maxime Thomas on France TV after his elimination in table tennis: “My opponent gave me a lot of difficulties. I have nothing to say about my preparation since Tokyo, everything was done very well. My opponent played a superb match. I didn’t give up, I gave everything I had to give. It’s hard to see the adventure end at home. There won’t be a sixth Paralympic medal for me here but I’m very proud of my journey. It’s the first time my children can see me. Dad won’t bring home a medal, but that’s sport…”

Five-time Paralympic medalist in the discipline, the Frenchman was beaten (1-3) by the Nigerian Isau Ogunkunle. We had hoped for much better for him, it’s a hard blow in this magnificent morning for the Blues.

Rowing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, cycling… Summer or winter, Ukrainian-American athlete Oksana Masters has truly become a Paralympic legend. At 35, she just added to her crazy collection this Wednesday by winning the road cycling time trial, in the H4-5 category. Born in 1989 in Khmelnitski, a few hundred kilometers from Chernobyl, Oksana Masters has several malformations, including webbed fingers, missing shins and one leg shorter than the other.

Malformations that led to her being abandoned at birth, and a childhood in three different orphanages, where she suffered violence and abuse before being adopted by an American, Gay Masters. Now a double-legged amputee, she has been winning Paralympic medals since London 2012, with a seventh victory this Wednesday. “All these emotions that I feel, I know what they mean: it’s this little Oksana who never believed in herself,” the champion recently explained on her website. Did you say inspiring?

Florian Jouanny spoke to France TV: “I gave it my all. I was maybe a little too confident in the bends and I could have won silver. I didn’t come for that.” Obviously, when you’re less than 0.5 seconds away from silver at a home Games, there’s reason to have regrets…

It was the Spaniard Sergio Garrote Muñoz who won gold with a clear margin (24’33”). On the other hand, the big disappointment was the silver, since the Italian Luca Mazzone crossed the line with… 46 hundredths of a second ahead of Florian Jouanny (raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)!

And bam: new reference time for the race with 25’19”. He is more than a minute ahead of his runner-up for the moment. But (and yes, unfortunately there is a but) his two main competitors will follow, so it may not remain golden for him. Let’s cross our fingers.