Canadian swimmer Nicholas Bennett captured the country’s first gold medal at the Paris Paralympics on Monday in the men’s SB14 100-metre breaststroke.
The 20-year-old clocked a time of one minute 3.98 seconds at Paris La Défense Arena.
It’s Bennett’s second medal of these Games after winning silver on Saturday in the men’s S14 200m freestyle final.
Having posted the fourth-fastest qualifying time, the Canadian appeared to be in tough racing out of Lane 6, two over from world-record holder Naohide Yamaguchi of Japan.
And at the halfway point, things seemed to be playing out as expected as Yamaguchi touched the 50-metre mark first with Bennett more than a half-second behind.
But Bennett had more left in the tank. He made his move over the final 30 metres, and by the time he touched the 100-metre mark, he was comfortably in first place.
Yamaguchi fell to the bronze-medal position in 1:04.94, while Australian Jake Michel set an Oceania-record time of 1:04.27 to snag silver.
Not only did Bennett’s victory mark the first for Canada in Paris — it also represented Canada’s 400th gold medal all-time at the Summer Paralympics.
WATCH | Bennett joins CBC Sports after 1st medal in Paris:
Nicholas Bennett joins Brian Hnatiw to talk about winning his first Paralympic medal, a silver, and how he feels heading into his next events.
