Wheelchair athlete Anthony Bouchard finished his first Paralympic final in sixth place in the 400m in the T52 class. On Friday, at the Stade de France, the Quebecer completed his lap in 1 min 4.09 s.
The reigning world champion and big favourite, Belgian Maxime Carabin, easily won with a time of 55.10 seconds ahead of the Tokyo Games gold medallist, Japanese Sato Tomoki (56.26 seconds), as well as another Japanese, Ito Tomoya (1 min 1.08 seconds).
PHOTO EMILIO MORENATTI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Maxime Carabin
The gold medallist had achieved a Paralympic record of 54.48 seconds in the morning’s qualifying.
“My race went exactly as planned, except the last 100m which was a bit more difficult because of the fatigue accumulated during the day. I’m really happy with the result. […] “It’s not my favourite event and the 100m could be even better,” said Bouchard, who was keeping an eye on one of his rivals in the final straight.
“No, you’re not going to get ahead of me!” he added about the Mexican Salvador Hernández Mondragón who followed him in the ranking.
Unlike his competitors, Bouchard does not push continuously on the hoops of his wheels, because he cannot use his core muscles. He therefore compensates by being more efficient with each push, as his trainer Nathalie Séguin explained.
He doesn’t have the stamina and power to keep up a pace without pauses. It’s his efficiency, rather than the frequency of his strokes, that keeps him from dying at the end of the race.
Nathalie Séguin, Anthony Bouchard’s trainer
A first race to put things in place
The Almatois had won the eighth and last available ticket for the final thanks to a time of 1 min 5.98 s, earlier, Friday. A race that allowed him to break the ice as a Paralympic rookie.
“When I saw my time, I wasn’t really satisfied, but I made the final! That’s the important thing,” Anthony Bouchard told Sportcom, after the first Paralympic race of his career.
The purple track at the Stade de France was completely soaked for the qualifications. Not enough to disconcert the Quebecer, who had prepared well for this eventuality.
“I had prepared accordingly by using the right type of gloves. I had planned a lap of the track in my warm-up and we were prevented from doing it, that’s more what required me to adapt,” explained Bouchard. “It made a small difference, but it doesn’t matter, everyone was in the same boat.”
The situation was also highlighted to the organizing committee so that it could be rectified in preparation for the final, and fortunately, it did not happen again.
Anthony Bouchard will now prepare for the 100m event, the qualifications for which will take place on Wednesday.