Athletics at the Paralympics: Ave celebrates bronze – Streng is stripped of silver

Bronze cheers for Lindy Ave: The 26-year-old ran the 400 meters to third place on Saturday (September 7, 2024). The Neubrandenburg native showed a thrilling final sprint. Felix Streng, on the other hand, was annoyed: After bronze over 100 meters, he had already been happy with silver over the double distance. But the 29-year-old athlete was stripped of his seventh Paralympic medal.

Three years after winning Paralympic gold and just four months after the end of her maternity leave, Lindy Ave also made it onto the podium in Paris. Over 400 metres in the T38 class, the vice world champion only had to admit defeat to Karen Tatiana Palomeque Moreno from Colombia and the Hungarian Luca Ekler in the Stade de France. The second German starter, Nele Moos, came seventh after her sensational silver in the long jump.

Ave: “Bronze is more important than gold”

“The bronze medal is more important than the gold from Tokyo”Ave said emotionally after the race in the sports show. “I can’t put into words how I came back so quickly. Not everyone can do it, and with a physical disability it’s even more complicated. I had to relearn everything from coordination to running style.” The now three-time Paralympic medalist added: “I started training again straight after the pregnancy. And I’m a fighter, I’m a competitive person. But I didn’t expect to be back so quickly.”

New world and European records

Several new records were set in the women’s 400-meter race. Palomeque Moreno ran a new world record of 58.67 seconds, improving her own best by 0.73 seconds. Ekler set a new European record of 59.35 seconds. Ave ran a new season’s best of 1:00.37 minutes, and Moos ran a new personal best of 1:00.91 minutes.

Moos was happy about her personal best time: “It’s a relief that it worked again after so much planning in the last few days”said the 22-year-old and had another message for the viewers in Germany: “Parasport is something really big, we are on the same level as the Olympic athletes. We work just as hard. We train just as hard. We deserve to be able to show what we can do on just as big a scale.”

Felix Streng is stripped of his 200-meter silver medal

The men’s final over 200 meters in the T64 class, however, caused some frustration – at least for the German starter Felix Streng. The 29-year-old crossed the finish line in 21.89 seconds and was already delighted with second place behind 100-meter champion Sherman Guity Guity from Costa Rica (21.32 seconds). But just ten minutes later, the medal was gone again: Streng was disqualified because he had crossed his lane several times.

Streng: “It just hurts”

“I’m at a loss for words. It just hurts. It wasn’t necessary.”said Streng, who won two Paralympic gold medals, one silver and three bronze medals in his career. “It was a finger’s width, I stepped on the line. I didn’t even realise it. I wanted to get everything out of the start and then I lost my balance. It’s a mistake I can’t make.”said the visibly dejected Wetzlarer at the Sportschau microphone.

Silver and bronze to Vloet and Mhlongo

Due to Steng’s disqualification, Dutchman Levi Vloet (22.47 seconds) and South African Mpumelelo Mhlongo (22.62 seconds) were able to celebrate silver and bronze. Paralympic champion Guity Guity ran a new Paralympic record in 21.32 seconds. Third-placed Mhlongo set a new world record in the T44 class with his time of 22.62 seconds. For Streng, 21.89 seconds would have been a new season best.

Roß and Vaske miss 200-meter final

The women’s 200 metres in the T47 class will take place this evening without any German participation. Jule Roß (25.93 seconds) and Kim Marie Vaske (27.17 seconds) set personal bests, but finished the heats in tenth and 15th place overall.