Daniel takes bronze at Paralympics in Tokyo

Canada’s Stefan Daniel had hoped to move up a step on the podium after taking silver at the inaugural Paralympic tri event in Rio in 2016, but ended up with a hard-fought bronze medal in  the men’s PTS5 category in Tokyo after a gutsy run.

Daniel would trail Great Britain’s George Peasgood out of the water by 64 seconnds and managed to make up a minute on the run to Peasgood and eventual gold-medalist Martin Shulz, but ran out of time to catch them.

“My first reaction was a bit of disappointment, but honestly these are the best guys in the world and there is no room for error so I’m pretty proud of my efforts today,” said Daniel. “I gave absolutely everything I had on the day and that was good enough for bronze. I absolutely had to earn that bronze today.”

“It’s been a good journey to Tokyo. It hurts winning (World Champs) and then not at the Paralympics but I will cherish this and I’m really motivated to keep it going here,” the 24-year-old continued. “I have my work cut out for me towards Paris, but right now I’m just going to enjoy this the best I can.”

“I went as deep as I could. The heat was definitely a factor but it was tough for everyone and I was definitely prepared for it,” said Daniel. “I just didn’t have it on the bike today. I tried my hardest to keep them close but they were just too strong. I did as good as I could across the board today. It was all I had so hats off to the top two guys.”

Peasgood led for much of the race, but was passed on the run by Shulz, who defended his gold medal from Rio.

Frenette takes fourth

Kamylle Frenette, a 25-year-old pharmacy student from New Brunswick, has been getting her training in for the Paralympics while delivering COVID vaccinations in Nova Scotia during the pandemic. She would end up fourth in the women’s PTS5 category.

“I’m really happy. I gave it my all and emptied the tank completely,” said Frenette. “I think it is normal for high performance athletes to always want more and I’m no different. I want more, but I’m also definitely really happy with today.”

Great Britain’s Lauren Steadman took gold ahead of American Grace Norman and another Brit, Claire Cashmore.

Full results can be found here.