It was a day of whiplash emotions Saturday for Island athletes at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
Nicholas Bennett of Parksville swam to the silver medal in the 200-metre freestyle S-14 while cyclist Mel Pemble of Victoria suffered a “stinging” fourth-place finish in track cycling after setting a world record during the qualifying rounds.
Bennett said: “This is something we have been working toward ever since I was a little kid, just to get to this level. Hitting the podium is a highlight. It’s just being able to race against the best and leave it all in the pool.”
It took a world-record time of 1:51.30 by William Ellard of Great Britain to beat the Islander, who settled for the silver in a Canadian record 1:53.61. Jack Ireland of Australia won the bronze medal.
Bennett has autism and is coached by his sister Haley Bennett-Osborne, who, like her brother, started out swimming at the Ravensong Breakers Club in Qualicum Beach: “[Brother Nicholas] went out after it. It was great. Best time. You can’t ask for more than that.”
Pemble had the strangest day an athlete could probably have at a Games. She was a victim of the Paralympics categorizing process.
Pemble’s qualifying time broke the previous world record in the women’s C 1-3 category of 39.093, set by Aniek Van Den Aarssen of Australia in 2022. But in the finals, the Islander’s time of 38.610 seconds missed the podium by just 0.3 seconds as Maike Hausberger of Germany (WC-2 category) captured the bronze medal at the Olympic Vélodrome National de St-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Amanda Reid of Australia (WC-2 category) won the gold medal with a factored time of 36.676 seconds and Wangwei Qian of China (WC-1 category was silver medallist.
“The world record is going to make that fourth place sting a little less in the end, but I think it’s going to take a little while for me to get over that,” said Pemble.
“I’m very happy with my times. I got a personal best by a second, which is more than could hope for, but it would have been amazing to win a medal. It just wasn’t in the cards this year.”
Pemble, 24, will go into the books as a rare Summer and Winter Paralympian after competing in skiing at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics. She began her sports career on the ski slopes of Mount Washington, where her parents took her to help her deal with her cerebral palsy, and she converted to track cycling two years ago on the 1994 Commonwealth Games velodrome in Colwood.
“It’s pretty cool to come here and realize I’m at my second Games,” said Pemble. “It felt more real coming into these Games with medal potential.”
A medal that was denied by the narrowest of margins.
Canada has a total of six medals in the table, two silver and four bronze, for 38th position among all the nations.
