“I made the senior national time, a world record and gold medal. I couldn’t be happier. This pool is perfect and the atmosphere is electric, it’s so exciting to race here,” said Grand’Maison. “My other team-mates push me to work harder and achieve my dreams.”

The race had started, but was stopped and restarted because the light indicating the start for a swimmer with a hearing disability had not gone off.

“The start was a little frustrating, being called back and having to restart but I stayed calm and focused. To take 11 seconds off of my best time is incredible,” said Gotell.

The other medal from the pool was won by Stephanie Dixon (Victoria, BC), who placed third in 1:03.89 in the 100m freestyle in the S9 category. She was racing against South African Natalie du Toit, who finished first in 1:01.44.

“I have been chasing a best time in this event for six years – I am so excited. I used this morning’s race as motivation to compete tonight. All the hard work I have put in over the years went into that race,” said Dixon, who shaved two seconds off her personal best time in the event.

In the S9 women’s 100m freestyle, Darda Sales (Sarnia, ON) finished eighth in 1:05.65.
Benoit Huot (Montreal, QC) placed fourth in the S10 men’s 100m butterfly in 59.68.

“This morning I was a bit nervous (for) my first race of the games. Tonight I felt good going into the race but I started too fast in the first 50,” said Huot.

Other finalists were Devin Gotell (seventh in the S13 men’s 400m freestyle in 4:28.73), Laura Jensen (sixth in the S7 women’s 100m freestyle in 1:18.65) and Brianna Nelson (seventh in the S7 women’s 100m freestyle in 1:19.11).

Not advancing to the finals from the preliminaries this morning were Jacqueline Rennebohm (11th in the SB12 women’s 100m breaststroke in 1:35.68), Drew Christensen (15th in the S8 men’s 100m freestyle in 1:06.14) and Andrea Cole (13th in the S8 women’s 100m freestyle in 1:19.58).

Canada’s only other medal came in equestrian.

Equestrian

Lauren Barwick (Langley, BC) won a silver medal today with her mare Maille in the individual championship test in the grade II category. Barwick had a solid ride and was impressed with Maile, who is named after a Hawaiian flower. Maile was sick upon arrival in Hong Kong, but was given the go-ahead to compete two days ago.

“I’m still having a hard time putting words together,” said an emotional Barwick. “My mare was so sick but she gave me everything she had today. To have a horse with so much heart and desire in her is just incredible. I couldn't have asked for a better partner."

Barwick finished second with a score of 68.454, behind German rider Britta Naepel, riding her horse Cherubin 15. The first-place finisher scored 71.909.

In the same category, Jennifer McKenzie (Maple Ridge, BC), riding Valentine II, placed 16th with a score of 56.818.
In the individual championship test in the grade IV category, Eleonore Elstone (Langley, BC), riding Lutke, finished eleventh with a score of 59.807, and Karen Brain (Saanichton, BC) on Vdl Odette, was twelfth with a score of 59.097.

Athletics

Diane Roy (Hatley, QC) was presented with the gold medal following the women’s 5000m race in the T54 category, but successful protests from three countries following a spectacular crash that sent several racers to the hospital will see the race re-run on Friday.

The crash involved six racers, including Canadian Tracey Ferguson (Holland Landing, ON). Ferguson did not sustain any serious injuries and said she is set to play wheelchair basketball tomorrow. Along with racing, Ferguson is a member of the women’s wheelchair basketball team at the Beijing Paralympic Games.

Roy avoided the accident as she had moved to the side to pass on the final lap. Her time was 11:54.03.

Jean-Paul Campaore (Sherbrooke, QC), with a personal best time of 49.42 at his first Paralympic Games, and Colin Mathieson (Sherbrooke, QC), with a time of 49.81, both advance to the semifinals in the men’ s 400m in the T54 category. Jeff Adams (Toronto, ON) did not race.

Other athletics competitors who saw action on Monday: Kyle Pettey (Brampton, ON), who finished 10th with a best throw of 30.26 and 770 points and didn’t advance in the men’s discus and Jonathan Dunkerley (Ottawa, ON) whose time of 12.12 wasn’t enough to allow him to advance in the men’s 100m T11 race.

No Canadians advanced in the men’s 5000m race in the T54 category. Josh Cassidy (Oakville, ON) raced to a season best 10:15.11 for fourth place in his heat, but did not qualify for the semi-finals. Also failing to qualify were Michel Filteau (St.-Jean Baptiste, QC), who was ninth in his heat with a time of 11:01.20 and Mark Ledo (Maple, ON), who was tenth in his heat with a time of 11:30.43.

Racing in the T12 category rather than his normal T13 category, Jason Dunkerley with a time of 2:03.60 did not advance to the finals in the men’s 800m.

Boccia

Defending gold medalist and No. 2 ranked Paul Gauthier was the only Canadian boccia player to advance to the singles quarterfinals, with a 5-1 win today over Spain. However, he lost 3-6 to top-ranked Greece in the quarter-finals. The Vancouver native filed a protest, claiming his opponent had illegal equipment, but the outcome was not known at press time.

First-time Paralympian Brock Richardson (Brampton, ON) upset Argentina in his fourth game of the round-robin competition with a score of 7-4. But it wasn’t enough to advance him to the quarterfinal.

Hanif Mawji (Burnaby, BC) lost his final match of the round- robin 4-5 to Spain, and was knocked out of the competition.
In the BC2 category, Adam Dukovich (London, ON) fought hard until the end against Japan, but lost a close match 4-5, despite leading in three of the four ends.

Tammy McLeod (London, ON) lost 0-9 to an opponent from Spain.

Monica Martino (Vancouver, BC) lost 4-5 to China and Alison Kabush (Surrey, BC) defeated Spain 5-1, but her win wasn’t enough to allow her to advance.

The team will rest Tuesday, and gear up for team and pair competitions, which start Wednesday.

Goalball

The women’s goalball team lost 6-5 to Brazil in its second game, after tying Sweden in its opener.

“The Brazilian team had a different technique of throwing the ball, so it was difficult to know if it was a fast or slow pitch,” said Amy Alsop (Regina, SK). “Although we lost, we’re scoring goals, which is positive. We still have a chance to work out the defensive aspect of the game.”

The men’s goalball team today downed the United States 8-2. Mario Caron (St.-Eustache, QC) scored seven goals, while Rob Christy (Ottawa, ON) added one.

“We played with patience. Before we used to take lots of penalties, but this time the other team took penalties,” said Caron.

Bruno Hache (Lachine, QC) added, “Usually when we play the United States, we’re up and down, but in this match we were always out in front.”

Sailing

On the first day of sailing at Quingdao, wind was a factor. The 2.4 and Skud fleets were sent back to shore at around midday as the wind was not strong enough to start the race. The sonar boats did not go in, but the races were delayed.
The boats finally started racing after 6 p.m. when the sun was going down.

On the 2.4m course Paul Tingley (Halifax, NS) had two first place finishes in what he described as steady wind. “It is just the beginning of a long series, but it is nice to get a few good races on the scoreboard,” he stated.

In the Skud 18 class, John McRoberts (Victoria, BC) and Stacie Louttit (Victoria, BC) sit tied for third, behind leaders Nick Scandone (USA) and Maureen MacKinnon Tucker (USA). The Canadian sailors had two solid races and had good speed all around the course, but suffered from a few bad shifts in each race.

There’s another long day of sailing Tuesday, with three races scheduled.

Shooting

Karen van Nest (Prince Albert, SK) shot 360 in the women’s P2-10m air pistol event for a 10th place finish.

“I’m pretty happy. I didn’t win a medal but I shot in the 60s. It was my goal to shoot 360 out of 400,” she said.

It was the same score as van Nest got at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, where she placed fourth.

“The competition has intensified so this time around, I dropped lower in the standings, but I’m still pleased with how I performed,” she said.

Her coach Rick Ward stated she shot much better than she had done in the four days of training leading up to the competition.

Van Nest has no more events. Shooter Christos Trifonidis (Vancouver, BC) competes on Sept. 11 and 12.

Track cycling

The tandem pair of Daniel Chalifour (Lac-aux-Écorces, QC) and Alexandre Cloutier (Quebec City, QC) finished seventh in the men’s 1km time trial finals today. It was the best showing by a Canadian duo in a race that saw six competitors break the Paralympic record and gold medalist Anthony Kappes (GBR) and his pilot Barney Storey (GBR) set a new world record of 1:02.864.

Chalifour and Cloutier’s time was 1:06.371.

“I’m not totally satisfied with the results. Today, we were a little tired from yesterday’s two races (in the men’s individual pursuit preliminaries and finals),” said Chalifour. “We were lacking energy by the middle of the third lap today.”

In the same class, Brian Cowie (Burnaby, BC) and his pilot Devon Smibert (Calgary, ON) were eighth in 1:07.721, and Stéphane Côté (Quebec City) and Pierre-Olivier Boily (Sherbrooke, Quebec) were 13th in 1:10.292.

Cycling coach Eric Van den Eynde noted the teams placing ahead of Chalifour and Cloutier specialize in the 1km time trial, and many will not be racing in any other events.

“Daniel and Alex are all-around cyclists. It’s really difficult to compete against guys who specialize in one or two events,” said the coach.

In the preliminaries of the 4000m men’s individual pursuit in the LC2 category, Eric Bourgault (Orford, QC) placed fifth in time of 5:09.490. It was a personal best time for Bourgault at sea level; he’s gone the distance two seconds faster but at a higher altitude. Only the top four cyclists advance to the finals.

Mark Breton (Charlesbourg, QC) placed 12th in the men’s individual pursuit in the LC1 category in a time of 5:12.364.

Wheelchair basketball

The women’s basketball team opened its Paralympic competition with an easy 59-32 win over the Netherlands.

Canada got off to a slow start and were held to only 10 points in the first quarter, while only allowing the Netherlands to score four. But the team solidified its lead in the second and third quarters. Canada kept the pressure on through the last quarter, and the Netherlands missed many shots. Team Canada shot 44% from the field and 63% from free throws.

Top scorers were veteran Chantal Benoit (Ottawa, Ontario) with 14 points, and Misty Thomas (Vancouver, BC) with 11 points. Thomas is the first Canadian to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Formerly, she represented Canada in able-bodied basketball. It is her first Paralympic Games following numerous knee surgeries.

First-time Paralympians Cindy Ouellet (Quebec City) and Katie Harnock (Elmira, ON) had outstanding break-out first games, adding 10 and six points to the scoreboard respectively.

Canada faces Japan on Tuesday in the round-robin competition.

In men’s play, Canada beat South Africa 80-55 in its second game of the tournament. The Canadians never relinquished their lead throughout the entire game.

High scorers were Patrick Anderson (Fergus, ON) with 16 points, Richard Peter (Vancouver, BC) and David Durepos (Charters Settlement, NB) with 12 points each, Adam Lancia (Scarborough, ON) with 11 and Joey Johnson with 10.

The men face Sweden on Tuesday.

Wheelchair tennis

All three of the Canadian wheelchair tennis players who took to the courts today lost their opening day matches.

Yann Mathieu (Trois-Rivieres, QC) succumbed 3-6, 1-6 to David Phillipson (GBR) in Canada’s first match of the day.

“He changed the pace so much sometimes that I couldn’t keep up,” said Mathieu. “I didn’t feel comfortable the whole match. He’s fast and I’m slow. It came down to I just wasn’t fast enough. I am going to train harder to get faster.”

Lee Carter (Winnipeg, MB) lost 4-6, 3-6 to Jozef Felix (SVK) in a match that lasted over an hour and a half.

“I didn't keep to my game plan of keeping the ball on my forehand,” said Carter, who played Felix for the first time. “He opened up the court well and kept the ball to my backhand. I didn’t serve well and that is usually my weapon. If I serve well, I put pressure on him. But I take nothing away from him. He played well.”

Yuka Chokyu (Richmond, BC) fell 1-6, 2-6 to No. 2 seed Korie Homan (NED).

“I was actually playing pretty well,” said Chokyu. “But she was just too tough. She has the reach and I couldn’t move around as much as I would have liked to. I did feel good about my game. I played up to my abilities, but she’s just a better player.”
Carter and Mathieu will now concentrate on the doubles competition, which begins Tuesday. They play Paul Moran (USA) and Lee Hinson (USA) Tuesday afternoon.

Also Tuesday at 11 a.m., Sarah Hunter (White Rock, BC) will play David Wagner (USA) on centre court in quad singles.