Swimmer Hector Denayer wins silver medal in the 100m breaststroke

At 19, the Frenchman celebrated his first Paralympic Games with a silver medal on Friday evening.

And three for French swimming. After Ugo Didier and Alex Portal, Hector Denayer also went to collect his trinket in the Paris La Défense Arena pool by finishing second in the 100m breaststroke SB9 (breaststroke swimmers with a slight deficiency in leg coordination, a moderate limitation of movement of the hip joint or feet, or very significant limitation of one foot, or the absence of part of a limb), Friday, August 30. This is the first Paralympic medal to be won by the 19-year-old native of Verdun, who is competing in his first Games.

Third best time in the series, the young French swimmer held his own and finished strong with some amazing final metres to get on the podium (1’05”91). He also won the French record and the second world performance of the year to boot. With this trinket, Hector Denayer confirmed the great promise shown during the European Championships in Funchal, earlier in the year (two silver medals). It was the Italian Stefano Raimondi who won the Paralympic title, after flirting with the world record for a large part of the race (1’05”28 in the end).