Anna Grimaldi of New Zealand celebrates after winning bronze during the Women's 100m T47 Final on day six of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Photo / Getty Images
Anna Grimaldi of New Zealand celebrates after winning bronze during the Women's 100m T47 Final on day six of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand has won two more medals at the Paralympic Games with success on the track once again.
William Stedman struck silver, finishing second in the final of the men’s 400m T36 in Paris, while Anna Grimaldi claimed a bronze in the women’s 100m T47 final.
Stedman, who came into the Games after winning at the world championships in Kobe earlier this year, posted a personal best and New Zealand-record time of 52.92sec in the medal race, which was won in world-record time by Australian James Turner.
The run saw him claim a Paralympic medal in his third-straight Games. The youngest member of the New Zealand team to compete at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro at just 16, Stedman came home with bronze medals in both the 400m T36 and 800m T36.
He backed that up with a bronze (400m T36) and silver (long jump T36) in Tokyo in 2021.
PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 03: Silver medalist, William Stedman of Team New Zealand, celebrates with the national flag following the Men's 400m T36 Final on day six of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at Stade de France on September 03, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for PNZ)
It’s been a busy schedule for the 24-year-old over the past couple of days. Last night, Stedman was still competing in the long jump competition, in which he finished just shy of the medals in fourth place.
“I only got three-and-a-hours sleep last night [following the long jump final] and I was worried about that but as I warmed up, I got a good feeling.” an elated Stedman said.
“I ran a good first half of the race and felt good around the bend and pushed it hard. With 50 metres to go I had nothing in the legs, I was trying to hold on and I almost tripped over a couple of times. To run 52.92 - a 0.44 PB is crazy. I knew I could run well today, but I didn’t think that well given the sleep I had. I’m over the moon with that performance.”
On winning silver he said: “It means a lot to me, especially as a lot of other athletes in the field ran well today. I had to run well to get the silver. This year I’ve improved my 400m PB by quite a bit. It is cool to see the hard work I’ve put in over the past three years pay off.”
Stedman competes in the 100m T36 on Saturday. He plans to celebrate by eating some ice cream in the Athletes’ Village today and then rest up ahead of his final event at Paris 2024.
“I’m really looking forward to the 100m. I’m in really good shape, we’ll give it a go and then see what happens.”
Anna Grimaldi wins bronze
Grimaldi was fortunate to get on the dais after sitting in fourth for most of the 100m final before Lisbeli Marina Vera Andrade of Venuzeula stumbled late in the race, falling to the track. Grimaldi ran a strong race to finish in a time of 12.20 seconds. Kiara Rodriguez of Ecuador won the final in a time of 12.04 seconds with the silver going to Brittni Mason of USA in 12.10 seconds.
Anna Grimaldi celebrates with a New Zealand flag after winning bronze during the Women's 100m T47 Final on day six of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Photo / Getty Images
For Grimaldi, it’s her first medal on the track after winning gold in the long jump T47 in Rio and Tokyo which she will look to defend later this week.
The 27-year-old Kiwi, who had smashed the Oceania record to post a time of 12.23 in the heats, executed another superb race in the final, breaking the Oceania record a second time.
In other results today, Jesse Reynolds finished seventh in the men’s s9 100m backstroke while Cameron Leslie was eighth in the men’s S4 200m freestyle.
The two medals today bring New Zealand’s medal count to five.
Cyclist Anna Taylor got New Zealand on the board with a silver in the women’s C4 3000m individual pursuit on Saturday.
A double-medal night on Sunday saw sprinter Danielle Aitchison claim silver in the women’s 200m T36, before cyclist Nicole Murray claimed bronze in the women’s C5 3000m individual pursuit.
