There would be no stopping Lauren Parker’s charge for Paralympic gold in Paris as the Australian held off the challenge of USA’s Kendall Gretsch to win by a huge margin on Monday morning.
After the heartbreak of losing a sprint finish to the American in Tokyo, Parker’s determination was written across her every move this time around. The gap was three minutes out of the water and despite shrinking quickly through a breathless first two laps on the handcycle, never really looked like being closed down.
Canadian Leanne Taylor H1 managed to hold off the challenge of Eva Moral Pedrero H1 to win the bronze by 7 seconds.
High drama further back saw a mechanical for Brazil’s Jessica Ferreira H1 end her challenge and Brenda Osnaya Alvarez H1 disqualified.
“I can’t believe I was able to do it today,” admitted a delighted Parker. “It’s been a long journey for me to get here and I couldn’t be more proud and more happy to get the gold medal. After getting second at Tokyo by less than a second, that’s been a big driving force over the last three years, every single day, through every single training session. I’ve worked so hard to accomplish what I’ve done today.
“Sport brings emotional rollercoasters week-to-week. I’ve been through a lot emotionally, personally, physically. A bike accident and lots of other things in the last three years I’ve had to overcome. It’s been a big, three-year build-up. I’ve said ever since Tokyo that I want to get gold in Paris and I will get gold in Paris.”
One of the seven more severely impaired athletes to go out in the first wave, Lauren Parker knew that the biggest threat to her gold medal ambitions almost certainly lay in one of the two athletes they left on the side of the pontoon under the Alexandre III bridge; USA’s Kendall Gretsch.
In Tokyo, it had taken Gretsch the entire race to catch her rival at the line. The 3m38s will have again felt like an eternity before getting her race underway, but Gretsch had already snipped the deficit down to three minutes by the time she came out of an exhausting 750m swim.
Further ahead, Parker was already into her familiar rhythm over the opening lap of the 20km handcycle, having exited the water first with Spain’s Pedrero, Mexico’s Alvarez and Canada’s Taylor for company.
Brazil’s powerful Jessica Ferreira began to work her way through the field and into second, by now Parker had 90 seconds to her nearest rival, but the gap to Gretsch was already down to two minutes as the American motored through lap one and hit second by the halfway mark.
A good T2 from Parker saw her into the 5km racing wheelchair with the gap behind still stuck firmly at two minutes. Gretsch was able to carve out another 20 seconds from it on lap one of the run, but time was not on her side.
A mechanical for Jessica Ferreira ended her chances early, while Mexico’s Brenda Osnaya Alvarez H1 was disqualified for receiving outside assistance having already served a 10 second penalty.
There was little to call between Taylor and Emilia Perry of the USA as they hit the final lap chasing the final spot on the podium, but up ahead it was Parker hitting the blue carpet all smiles on her way to the Paralympic title she craved.
Gretsch was untroubled in her position for silver, but it was Taylor with the big finish to earn bronze, just 8 seconds ahead of Pedrero, on the Canadian’s Paralympic debut.
QUOTES:
Kendall Gretsch (silver)
“Any time we race against each other I know it’s going to be a hard race. Today it was no exception. This course is phenomenal. I gave everything I could today and also the past three years leading into this. That was the best I could do. I am just so proud of everything I did to get here. That’s all you can ask for. Ever since Tokyo I knew this race was going to be so hard. To have a chance to even be close to Lauren it was going to be a really tough race.”
Leanne Taylor (bronze)
“It’s amazing. I don’t think it’s really set in yet. I had so many friends and family that are here to support and it meant so much to me to have a performance that got them to cheer even louder than they already were. I’m super excited. It was a really tough day for me… I wasn’t feeling well coming into the race, so I was really nervous about how hard I was going to be able to push.
“You train for years for this, so you want to be able to give everything on the day. When I was on the run, my coach told me I was in third. I saw which athletes were behind me and what the gap was. I then realised all I had to do was hold on and I could. Coming into the finish, I was just looking for my husband to let him know we had done it. It’s my first Games, so I was kind of nervous. I think it’s a lot more to take on than you realise. And you think you’re mentally prepared, but then you get here, and you’re like, oh my goodness, this is big!”
For full results, click here.