“The reality is that we only have one chance,” shared Nicolas-Guy Turbide after placing seventh in the S13 50m freestyle at the Paris Paralympic Games. And when the podium is contested by a single length, chances to catch up are pretty rare.
“That’s what makes this race beautiful,” described the Quebecer, met in the mixed zone by Sportcom at the end of his only event scheduled in the French capital.
“It has to be perfect, everything is calculated. For me, today, I lacked a little bit of juice in the second half, especially in the last 15 meters.”
At that point, his nervous system failed him. Everything became more difficult for the 27-year-old athlete.
“I have to fight against myself a little, it makes the race more difficult, but it’s part of my reality and I have to deal with it. Suddenly, I feel it coming. It’s harder to turn my arms and do the leg kicks. I train to push that back as much as possible,” explained Nicolas-Guy Turbide, who posted a time of 24.4 seconds that put him 55 hundredths of a second off the podium.
If I continue swimming, there may be things that need to be changed.
Nicolas-Guy Turbide
Ihar Boki was the fastest in 23.65 seconds, followed by Ukraine’s Illia Yaremenko (+0.12 seconds), Oleksii Virchenko (+0.20 seconds) and Maksym Veraksa (+0.35 seconds). In the morning, the co-captain of the Canadian para-swimming team had finished fifth in qualifying behind these four finalists.
“I’m not super happy, it’s not the result I wanted, but I still managed to absorb the atmosphere. Six members of my family travelled to see my event, several are at home watching diligently. I wanted to do the best I could for them and I’m happy to have them with me today. I will keep good memories of my experience.”
Nicolas-Guy Turbide swam two events at the Paralympic Games in Rio and Tokyo, the 50m freestyle and the 100m backstroke. It was in this second event that he won bronze in Brazil and silver in Japan.
However, he had to put it aside in recent years because it had become too physically tough.
His role as teammate will now fill the rest of his Games.
“I felt ready, confident. It’s the execution that I would have liked that went better, but we only have one chance, not two. I would have liked to be closer to my best performance. Mistakes like that are what make us bounce back,” concluded Turbide.
Better feeling, but same result
PHOTO MICHAEL P. HALL, CANADIAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE, PROVIDED BY THE CANADIAN PRESS
Sabrina Duchesne
Sabrina Duchesne also swam her first event of the Paris Paralympic Games on Monday and, like her teammate, she was hoping for better for her debut at the Paris La Défense Arena. She finished 6the in the 400m freestyle S7, an event in which she received bronze at the 2023 World Championships. On Monday, she finished the event in 5 min 24.08 s.
“It was still hard, but easier than this morning. [aux qualifications] “, mentioned Sabrina Duchesne, who still feels better in her second race.
“The feeling was better in the pool, except that it gave me the same time. I’m a little disappointed, it’ll be fine! I expected better tonight, but I gave it everything I had.”
Leading the race from start to finish was American Morgan Stickney, who set a Paralympic record in 4:53.88. Her compatriot McKenzie Coan finished second in 5:10.34, while Italy’s Giulia Terzi took bronze in 5:12.61.
The Quebecer was delighted to have more time to prepare for her third Games. On the other hand, she was eagerly awaiting her turn and was looking forward to swimming in front of all those spectators.
“It’s crazy! All this atmosphere, the family is there, my coach flew out at the last minute to come see me, it’s all incredible,” she said.
“I am capable of doing much better. I know what I have to work on. It remains to be seen what will happen with para-swimming for me in the coming years.”
Before thinking about it more seriously, Sabrina Duchesne will participate in the 100m freestyle S7 on Wednesday. A “bonus” event, specified the 23-year-old athlete.
“It’s never been my specialty, but I’ve always enjoyed swimming it. Let’s see how it goes!”
British Columbian Nicholas Bennett took part in the SB14 100m breaststroke final after the Quebecer’s performance. He took the opportunity to offer the Canadian delegation a first gold medal in the City of Lights. He had also received silver in the SB14 200m freestyle on Saturday.
The day concluded with the presentation of the 4x100m mixed medley relay at the Paris La Défense Arena. Shelby Newkirk, Fernando Lu, Reid Maxwell and Arianna Hunsicker posted a time of 4:50 and finished eighth. Australia, the Netherlands and Spain reached the podium.