What to watch today at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: Athletes and competitions to follow this September 8
The love story of Mari Carmen Paredes (ENG)
For athletics
- Event: Women’s marathon T12
- Time: 8:30 local time in Paris
“When I was diagnosed with retinal macular degeneration I had two options: either stay at home complaining or go out and overcome that situation,” recalled the Spanish Para athlete. Mari Carmen Paredes in an interview for the newspaper Mark.
Paredes fell into a depression due to the blindness caused by the condition, but found an escape route in Para athletics. Encouraged by her husband, an amateur runner, Paredes also took up running. She was almost 50 years old, but that was no barrier to her success: these will be her third Paralympic Games, and she has competed with her husband in all of them. Lorenzo Sanchezas a guide.
At 61, Paredes will have a hard time fighting for medals against the dominance of Moroccan athletes, but she will demonstrate once again alongside Lorenzo that, although blindness closed doors for her, Para athletics has opened many windows for her.
Katherine Wollermann, making history for Chile
For canoeing
- Event: K1 200m Women’s Final KL1
- Time: 11:25 local time in Paris (05:25 hours in Santiago de Chile)
The Para canoeist Katherine Wollermann Chilean athlete has the chance to become the first Chilean woman to win two medals at the Paralympic Games. The Chiguayan native qualified directly for the women’s K1 200m KL1 final after winning her qualifying heat with an advantage of more than two seconds over her closest rival.
Wollermann, who was 4th in Rio 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020, set the third best time overall in the first round and confirmed that she will once again be in the fight for the podium. If she achieves it this Sunday, she would be the first Chilean woman to win two Paralympic medals and the only athlete from the country along with the Para swimmer Alberto Abarza in winning more than one metal.
Castillo and Bárcenas, Mexico’s last medal hopes
For weightlifting
- Event: Men up to 107 kg and Women over 86 kg
- Time: 09:00 and 14:00 local time in Paris (8 hours less in Mexico City)
Mexico will have two representatives on the last day of competition at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: Jose de Jesus Castillo y Pearl Barcenas. Both are Paralympic medallists in the same sport: Para weightlifting or Para powerlifting.
Castillo has a better chance of winning the medals: he was a bronze medalist in Rio 2016, world champion in 2017, and he starts with the fourth highest weight in his first attempt, just two kilograms behind the third.
But Bárcenas is a legend of Mexican Paralympics: he was a silver medalist in Sydney 2000, bronze in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, and finished fourth in his last two participations, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. His last international medal was a bronze at the 2021 World Championships.
