Sprinter Danielle Aitchison has found a new Games record insufficient for gold in a thrilling T36 200 metres finish at the Paris Paralympics, bowing to archrival Yiting Shi at Stade de France.
The Kiwi world champion loomed as favourite, after setting a new Paralympics mark in her heat, jogging across the line well clear of her opposition in 28.09s.
The final proved quite a different story, as defending champion Shi produced the run of a lifetime, clocking 27.50s to hold off Aitchison (27.67s) down the home stretch for victory. Both were under Aitchison's previous Games mark, while the Chinese was just three-hundredths of a second off her world record, set at the world championships in Kobe this year.
The sprinter was under her previous Games record in the final. (Source: TVNZ)
"Definitely mixed emotions," admitted Aitchison. "Definitely happy to get silver and it was just a brilliant race.
"A little bit disappointed at the same time, knowing I definitely had a chance to get the gold medal, but just the last five metres cost me."
Aitchison's silver — plus the bronze captured by track cyclist Nicole Murray — has boosted New Zealand's medal count at Paris to three, although gold has so far proved elusive for a team that finished Tokyo 2020 with 12 medals, including six gold.
Murray's podium finish at Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines came in the C5 3000m individual pursuit, where she qualified third-fastest in the field of eight and raced for bronze against Italian Claudia Cretti.
The Kiwi was always ahead and finished in the same straight as her opponent to record 3m 36.206s, more than a second faster than her qualifying performance. Marie Patouillet defeated French teammate Heidi Gaugain in 3m 35.691s for gold.
"It's amazing, just an unreal feeling," Murray told TVNZ. "It's so special to be able to share with my family in the crowd, I'm over the moon."
Murray finished just out of the medals in the same event at Tokyo three years ago.
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