This silver medal tastes like gold, says para swimmer Haidee Aceves

Para-swimmer Haidee Aceves yesterday won the first medal for the Mexican delegation at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games after winning the silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke S2 ​​category.

After a spectacular finish in the final, held at La Défense Arena, the tricolor finished the race in second place with a time of 2:21.79 minutes, six hundredths of a second behind Yip Pin Xiu, from Singapore, who took the gold (2:21.73). The bronze went to the Italian Angela Procida, with 2:24.48. With this time, Aceves achieved a record for America.

In the same event, Fabiola Ramírez, bronze medalist in Tokyo 2020 and flag bearer of the tricolor delegation, finished in sixth place with 2:40.48.

For me it tastes like gold, it’s something I’ve been chasing since the last Games and having obtained my first Paralympic medal and the first for Mexico in this event is something incredible. In addition, it’s my best time of the entire season.said the 31-year-old from Jalisco.

It’s so nice to see so much love and support, there are a lot of Mexicans here, the arena looks packed. My mom is with me, when I was in the hospital a year ago, neither of us imagined that we would be in Paris 2024, I was also recovering from an injury and being here is something incredible.added the Pan American multi-medalist, who is participating in her fourth Paralympic Games.

He also admitted that he had not realized that he had finished the race in second place. I felt capable, but I didn’t expect a result like that because I know that at the Paralympic Games anything can happen, I just did what I had to do, which was swim well. The truth is I didn’t know I had won a medal until I saw the flags of the first three places and I could see my name.said Aceves, who will also compete in the 50-meter backstroke and 100-meter freestyle.

In turn, Karina Hernández competed in the 200-meter freestyle S5, where she finished in seventh place. heat 3 with a time of 4:07.22 minutes, which left him out of the fight for medals.

Cristopher Tronco and Jesús Rey López, who participated in the 100-meter backstroke S2, finished in fifth and eighth place, respectively, with times of 2:14.87 and 2:25.64 minutes. Brazilian Gabriel dos Santos won gold with a time of 1:53.67.

It’s easy to say, but here is the result. I gave my best and by finishing fifth I improved my time compared to the first result, I lowered it by four seconds and it is the best time for me in these Games with the best time of the season.Tronco commented.

In the 50-meter breaststroke SB3 category, Gustavo Sánchez, who is participating in his fourth Paralympic Games, finished in seventh place in the final with a time of 1:00.28 minutes, where the Japanese Takayuki Suzuki (48.04), the Italian Efrem Morelli (49.41) and the Spaniard Miguel Luque (50.52) occupied the podium.

In parataekwondo, Jessica Garcia was unable to beat Meryem Betul of Turkey and lost 6-3 in the duel for the bronze medal in the K44 -52 kilogram category, ending her participation in her first Paralympic Games in fifth place.

It was very close and we were left with a bitter taste. We know that it is going all out, many times it does not work out for us. On this occasion, Jessica was left behind without a medal, she finished in fifth place. She has a lot of work to do and think about, and we also need a lot of feedback.said Jannet Alegría, national parataekwondo coach.

In the K44 -47 kilogram category, Claudia Romero Rodríguez closed her Paralympic debut in the quarter-finals, after a controversial disqualification against Moroccan Naoual Laarif due to an accidental kick.

In the para-archery category, Samuel Molina finished in seventh place in the qualifying round of the individual men’s recurve bow event, with 641 points, after occupying first place for much of the qualifying round.

The native of Michoacán will return to the shooting line next Wednesday, September 4.

In the men’s individual compound bow, South Californian Victor Sardina was placed fourteenth in the classification with a total of 688 points.

The next test for the Mexican will be the round of 32, where today he will face the American Matt Stutzman, silver medalist in London 2012 and world champion in 2022.