And 17! The day after a day rich in medals and titles, the French Paralympic team continued its harvest on Thursday, September 5. Paracyclist Florian Jouanny brought a 16th title to the blue delegation, during the road race (category H1-2, handcycle), before being joined by Mathieu Bosredon in the same event, but in another category (H3). If paracycling brightened the day of the tricolor clan, judoka Sandrine Martinet and sprinter Timothée Adolphe each brought home a silver medal. Laurent Chardard, Ugo Didier and Hector Denayer also reached the podium in swimming, with bronze in the 100m freestyle, silver and bronze in the 200m medley respectively.
The Blues of blind football in the final. Twelve years after London, the French blind football team was back in the semi-finals of the Paralympic tournament. Toussaint Akpweh’s men managed to win against Colombia (1-0), thanks to a goal from the inevitable Frédéric Villeroux, in that theater of dreams that is the Eiffel Tower stadium. In the other semi-final, Argentina became the first team to eliminate Brazil since the introduction of blind football at the Games in 2004, winning on penalties (4-3). The final will therefore pit France against Argentina. A matchup reminiscent of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Florian Jouanny remains in gold, Mathieu Bosredon and Johan Quaile are inseparable. As in Tokyo, paracyclist Florian Jouanny won the road race on Thursday morning in the H1-2 category with his handcycle. In the rain, he won the race alone, after dropping the Spaniard Sergio Garrote in the final kilometers. The day after their double in the time trial, Mathieu Bosredon and Johan Quaile again finished in the same order in the road race (H3 category) to continue the exceptional performance of the French cyclists. For his part, Loïc Vergnaud won the silver medal in the road race (H5 category).
Timothée Adolphe is on the podium again. Author of the best performance of the season among the four finalists, winner of his semi-final and favourite of the race, Timothée Adolphe, accompanied by his guide Charles Renard, failed to come second in the 100 m (T11, blind athletes) behind the Greek Athanasios Ghavelas. Paralympic gold still eludes him.
