Paris 2024: Durand Stuns Everyone By Winning Gold: On Tuesday morning, September 3, she smashed the purple track at the Stade de France to win her ninth Paralympic gold medal and fourth in a row. Durand won the women’s 400m T12 finals with a time that was the best of the season (53.59).
Also a 14-time World winner, the Cuban already had a great record in Paris (three golds at the Paris 2023 Worlds), and on Tuesday, she showed why she is the best. She and her guide Yuniol Kindelan Vargas worked well together, and she had her first success in Paris.
In the end, she also made it clear that she wanted to win the 100-meter and 200-meter gold medals.
“This is really fun for me. I ran my fastest time of the season, but I came here to win a medal. I wasn’t worried about a certain time.
“This is my fifth Paralympic Games. The only one I didn’t win a medal in was Beijing 2008.” I am a happy and fulfilled athlete who is proud of everything she has done in her work.
“What a lovely story.” “Now I’m going to run the 100m and the 200m (T12) and get the other two gold medals,” the 32-year-old said. His win was one of Cuba’s two this morning.
Records for Turner, Jacques
Just before Durand showed her class, James Turner of Australia wowed the crowd in the morning with a great performance in the men’s 400m T36 finals. He did a great job defending his title in Tokyo 2020, setting both a world and a Paralympic record time of 51.54 seconds.
I think it’s great that the team was able to bring this home. “That was the best run I’ve ever done.” It wasn’t easy, even though it looked like it was. “It takes a lot of work.” “Believing in the right process is what gets you over the line,” said Turner, who has won seven world titles.
Even though it rained for a short time, Brazilian Yeltsin Jacques didn’t seem to mind. The winner from Tokyo 2020 put on a spectacular show by running the men’s 1500m T11 with his guide Guilherme Ademils dos Anjos Santos in a time of 3:55.82, which broke both the world and Paralympic records. “I’m thrilled to have won another gold medal. I’m also thrilled for my country.” It’s very special to get an award after everything I’ve been through—being hurt and sick. “It worked to run in the rain.” “This is the best track I’ve ever run on,” Jacques said of the conditions.
This morning, Swiss great Catherine Debrunner was also competing at the Stade de France. She finished as expected, setting a new Paralympic record time of 3:13.10 in the women’s 1500m T54 finals. Besides the ones that won on Tuesday morning, China claimed two gold medals, while Latvia and Canada each claimed one.
