Brothers Alex and Kylian Portal win silver and bronze medals in the 400m freestyle

Already a medallist in the 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke in Paris, the eldest of the Portal brothers took his third podium of this edition on Saturday, when his younger brother appeared on the Games box for the first time.

A huge joy to share. Frenchmen Alex and Kylian Portal climbed onto the podium in the 400m freestyle (S13, visually impaired swimmers) on Saturday 31 August, winning the silver and bronze medals behind the untouchable Belarusian Ihar Boki, who is competing under the neutral banner. Lined up in the same series at the end of the morning, the two brothers excelled in the final to jointly sign a magnificent performance.

Still in search of Paralympic gold, the 22-year-old eldest, Alex, took the lead of the race from the start. A way of reminding his main competitor that he was the reigning world champion in the discipline. But he was finally caught halfway through the race, then overtaken by Ihar Boki in the final round trip.

Despite his disappointment at the finish, this is his third Parisian medal after having already won silver in the 100m butterfly on Thursday and bronze in the 100m backstroke on Friday. This is his fifth medal at the Games after his participation in Tokyo. He will still have the opportunity to experience his first title on the 200m medley on Tuesday.

At 17, Kylian was competing in the first Paralympic event of his career. In front of the Paris La Défense Arena stands, which were all behind his siblings, the man who took advantage of his brother’s wave in the morning to reach the final managed his eight lengths perfectly. He made his effort in the last 50 metres to get ahead of the Ukrainian Kyrylo Garashchenko and get on the podium.

Lined up in the final of the S13 category, despite a more severe visual handicap, he also set the Paralympic record for S12 (4’05”99). Like last summer at the Manchester World Championships, the Portal family will have great memories of this race, at the end of which the two prodigies stood on the same podium.