PARALYMPIC GAMES – Another gold medal for the French team. During an exclusively French para-cycling final on the track in the 3,000 m individual pursuit (C5), Marie Patouillet won the gold medal on Sunday, September 1st. This is the fourth gold medal for the French delegation, which is pursuing its goal of winning around twenty during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
All French medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, updated event by event
Thanks to a remarkably controlled race, Marie Patouillet became the first French woman to win a Paralympic title in paracycling this Sunday. It is also her second medal at these Games. The French cyclist had launched the hostilities on Thursday, August 29 by winning silver in the 500 m time trial in the C4 and C5 categories, thus offering the French delegation its very first medal.
At the end of her individual pursuit final on the track this Sunday, the 36-year-old cyclist told France Télévisions: “I just told myself that these were the last laps, that I had to live them to the fullest. When two laps before the end I realized that I was in front, I said to myself “you don’t have the right to be in pain, these are your Games!”.
A 100% French final and a very emotional podium
“We had a very good fight with Heidi Gaugain, with a lot of respect”she also praised. Marie Patouillet in fact played an all-French final against Heidi Gaugain, double reigning world champion and initially favourite for this event.
After a very close duel, the 20-year-old finally won the silver medal, beaten by just over two seconds by her opponent in the euphoric atmosphere of the Saint-Quentin-en-Yveline velodrome, as you can (re)see below.
This French-French duel ended with a podium filled with intense emotion. Overwhelmed by the moment, Marie Patouillet lost consciousness a few moments before the audience was about to sing the Marseillaise and had to sit down for a moment. At her side, Heidi Gaugain, overwhelmed by the disappointment of not having won the gold, could not hold back her tears.
The two French women had achieved the two best times in the pursuit qualifications on Sunday, thus guaranteeing two additional medals for the French team. Their medals are respectively the 20th and 21st of the French delegation.
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