Canada’s Priscilla Gagné will battle for her second career Paralympic judo medal on Thursday in Paris.
The blind judoka from Sarnia, Ont., will compete in a bronze-medal match after losing her semifinal bout in the women’s 57-kilogram J1 tournament at Champ-de-Mars Arena.
Gagné opened the day with a 10-0 quarterfinal win over Larissa Oliveira, defeating the Brazilian by ippon in just over a minute with a Okuri-eri-jime choke.
Two bronze medals are awarded in each weight class, with the semifinal losers squaring off against the winners from the repechage round.
Gagné will face Argentina’s Paula Gomez for bronze in the second session of the day, which starts at 10 a.m. ET. Watch live coverage on CBC Gem, the Paris 2024 website and the Paris 2024 mobile app.
The three-time Paralympian won silver in the women’s 52kg division at the Tokyo Games in 2021. She is currently ranked fourth in the world.
Canada’s Levine, Ciobanu fall short of boccia bronze
The first Canadian medal opportunity of the day saw the boccia duo of Alison Levine and Iulian Ciobanu suffered a 6-1 loss to Thailand in the mixed pairs BC4 bronze-medal match.
Nuanchan Phonsila and Pornchok Larpyen scored in all four ends with pinpoint accuracy, including three points in the third, to deny the second-ranked Canadians a spot on the podium at South Paris Arena.
Levine and Ciobanu, both competing in their third Paralympics, are the reigning Parapan American Games champion pairing in the event.
Boccia players throw leather balls as close as they can to a white target ball called the jack.
Montreal’s Levine finished fifth in the individual women’s tournament in Paris. The 34-year-old is a four-time Parapan Am Games medallist, including an individual gold medal last November.
Colombia will face Hong Kong for the mixed pairs gold medal at 1:15 p.m. ET.
Rivard cruises into 400m freestyle final
Canadian swimmer Aurélie Rivard will look to win her 13th career Paralympic medal and third in Paris on Thursday after qualifying for the women’s 400-metre freestyle final.
The two-time defending champion in the event touched the wall in the second-fastest overall time, stopping the clock in four minutes 37.03 seconds to finish 2.32 seconds behind American Alexandra Truwit in the opening heat at Paris La Défense Arena.
Montreal’s Rivard reached the Paris podium in her opening two events, taking bronze in the 50m freestyle and silver in the 100m free.
Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., also advanced to her third final of these Games, securing a spot in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB7 medal race with a time of 1:33.83.
The 25-year-old is the reigning world champion in the event.
Routliffe swam to silver in the 200m individual medley in Paris before finishing eighth in the 100m freestyle. Her final is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET.
Muskoka, Ont., native Mary Jibb will race in the women’s 200m individual medley SM9 final at 12:55 p.m. ET, qualifying with the fifth-fastest overall time (2:41.99).
Source Agencies
