PARALYMPIC GAMES – TOKYO 2020

Friday, 10 September 2021

No need to say that the Paralympic Games are more than just a regular competition, it's a sport celebration of the difference. Paracanoe entered the group in 2016 with six kayak races (three men and three women) and expanded in Tokyo for nine (plus VL2, VL3 men and VL2 women).

For us, it was another very successfull competition: 14 medals out of 27.

Curtis McGrath and Serhii Yemelianov, two big names of the Paracanoe world arrived in Tokyo with big responsability: defend their Paralympic title and remain unbeaten since Rio. It was, again, a triumphant competition for them. Serhii won the KL3 Men in a race where the british Robert Oliver claimed the Bonze medal. Curtis beat the competition in the KL2 in a full Jantex podium: Mykola Syniuk with Silver and Federico Mancarella with Bronze.

The 2019 World Championships introduced two of the gold medalists of the Tokyo Paralympics: Laura Sugar, silver back then, and Peter Kiss, storming the Szeged competition with a Gold. In Tokyo, Laura won the KL3 followed by Nelia Barbosa and Peter won very comfortably his race, with Remy Boulle in third.

Another great race was the VL2 Men's Final. Fernando Rufino de Paulo repeated the win of the World Cup and took his first Paralympic medal home. Norberto Mourão got himself a bronze medal. Also medalists for the first time: Maryna Mazhula Silver), Giovanne Vieira de Paula (Silver) and Katherinne Wollermann (Bronze).

Here is the complete list of the medalists.

Serhii Yemelianov – Gold KL3

Curtis McGrath – Gold KL2

Peter Kiss – Gold KL1

Laura Sugar – Gold KL3

Fernando Rufino de Paulo – Gold VL2

Mykola Syniuk – Silver KL2

Maryna Mazhula – Silver KL1

Nelia Barbosa – Silver KL3

Giovanni Vieira de Paula – Silver VL3

Federico Mancarella – Bronze KL2

Robert Oliver – Bronze KL3