Canadian Paralympic Committee – Sept. 11, 2016 – RIO DE JANEIRO – Wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos of Dorval, Que., and runner Liam Stanley of Victoria each won a silver medal on the track and Canadian rowers reached the podium for the first time ever at the Paralympic Games on a busy Sunday morning in Rio.

In the men’s T37 1500-m final, Michael McKillop of Ireland took the gold in 4:12.11 with Stanley grabbing the silver in his first Games appearance in 4:16.72. Madjid Djemai of Algeria was third in 4:17.28. Shayne Dobson of Campbellton, N.B. was fifth in 4:21.06.

”It went well but a little faster than I expected,” said the 19-year-old Stanley who played for Canada’s para-soccer team last year at the Parapan Am Games in Toronto.  “I just tried to hold on to him. I stuck to the game plan and just executed. “

In the men’s T53 400-m Pongsakorn Paeto of Thailand took the gold on the track clocking 47.91 edging Lakatos whose time was 48.53, his second fastest clocking ever. Pierre Fairbanks of France was third in 49.00. It was Lakatos’ second medal of the Games. He won gold in the 100-m on Friday.

“I am quite happy with my race personally,” said Lakatos, a 36-year-old paraplegic now with five career Paralympic medals. “If you would have told me going in that I would have done my second faster time ever I would have been pretty excited about that.”

In rowing, Canada took the bronze in the LTA Coxed Four final. Britain won the gold in 3:17.17, the U.S. was second in 3:19.61 and the Canadians with Victoria Nolan (Toronto), Meghan Montgomery (Winnipeg), Andrew Todd (Thunder Bay, Ont.) Curtis Halladay (Sudbury, Ont.) and coxswain Kristen Kit (St. Catharines, Ont.) followed in 3:19.90.

“We came back on the US in a big way,” said Montgomery, 34, who has a disability in her right hand. “We got from the stern to just being a bow ball away from silver. It was a good race.”

Montgomery is a three-time Paralympian who retired after the London Games but made a comeback in 2015.

“This year was about fighting to get back into the boat,” she said. “That was a big part of us doing so well today. We had a competitive environment in the boat.”

Halladay said the crew competed like there was no tomorrow.

“Before this race we all committed to each other about giving every ounce of what we’ve got,” said Halladay, 21, who suffered a major leg injury in a motocross racing accident in May 2012.

In the swimming heats, seven Canadians reached tonight’s finals: Benoit Huot of Longueuil, Que., and Isaac Bouckley of Port Hope, Ont., in the men’s SM10 200-m individual medley; Aurélie Rivard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., in the women’s SM10 200-m IM; Katarina Roxon of Corner Brook, N.L., in the women’s SM9 200-m IM, Zack McAllister of Lethbridge, Alta., in the men’s S8 100-m freestyle and Abi Tripp of Kingston, Ont., and Morgan Bird of Calgary in the women’s S8 100-m freestyle.

In women’s wheelchair basketball, the Canadian women lost their first game after opening with two victories. They fell to Germany 68-54 despite a 23-point effort by Cindy Ouellet of Quebec City.

RIO DE JANEIRO _ What Canada Did on Sunday morning at the 2016 Paralympic Games (distances in metres):

Athletics

Women’s T54 400: Diane Roy, Sherbrooke, Que., was 10^th in heats and did not advance

Men’s T54 5000: Josh Cassidy, Port Elgin, Ont., was 10th in the final

Men’s T53 400 : Brent Lakatos, Dorval, Que., won the silver medal.

Men’s T37 1500: Liam Stanley, Victoria won the silver medal and  Shayne Dobson, Campbellton, N.B., was fifth.

Men’s T11 1500: Jason Dunkerley, Ottawa, and his guide Josh Karanja, Ottawa, were fifth in heats to advance to final.

5:48 p.m.: Austin Smeenk (Oakville, Ont.) men’s T34 100-m heats

6:12 p.m.: Alexandre Dupont (St-Rémi, Que.) and Curtis Thom (Mississauga, Ont.) men’s T54 400-m heats.

6 :33 p.m: Guillaume Ouellet (Quebec City) men’s T13 1500-m FINAL

Boccia (preliminary round)

Mixed pairs BC4 – Canada (Iulian Ciobanu, Montreal; Marco Dispaltro, St-Jérôme, Que.; Alison Levine, Montreal) lost 7-3 to Thailand.

Mixed pairs BC 3 – Canada (Éric Bussière, Verchères, Que.; Bruno Garneau, Montreal; Marylou Martineau, Quebec City) lost 7-0 to Belgium.

Equestrian

Team Test Grade Three: Roberta Sheffield, Lincolnshire, UK, was 10^th.

2 p.m.: Ashley Gowanlock (Surrey, B.C.) Team Test Grade 1B

Goalball

2:30 p.m.: women’s preliminary – Canada vs Ukraine

Rowing

LTA Mixed Coxed Four: Canada won the bronze medal.  Canadian rowers – Victoria Nolan (Toronto), Meghan Montgomery (Winnipeg), Andrew Todd (Thunder Bay, Ont.) Curtis Halladay (Sudbury, Ont.) and coxswain Kristen Kit (St. Catharines, Ont.)

Sitting volleyball

2 p.m.: women’s preliminaries Canada (0-1) vs the Netherlands (0-1)

Swimming

Women’s SB9 200-m IM: Katarina Roxon, Corner Brook, N.L. was fifth in her heat to advance to final at 5:53 p.m.

Men’s SB13 100-m breaststroke:  Tyler Mrak (Aldergrove, B.C.) was 11^th in heats and did not advance.

Men’s S14 200-m freestyle: Gord Michie, St. Thomas, Ont., was 14^th in heats and did not advance.

Men’s S10 200-m IM: Benoit Huot, Longueuil, Que., tied for fourth in heats and Isaac Bouckley, Port Hope, Ont., was seventh in heats. Both advance to final at 6:59 p.m.

Women’s S10 200m IM:  Aurélie Rivard, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., was second in heats to advance to  final at 7:07 p.m.

Men’s S8 100-m freestyle: Zack McAllister, Lethbridge, Alta., eighth in heats advances to final at 7:29 p.m.

Women’s S8 100-m freestyle: Abi Tripp, Kingston, Ont., and Morgan Bird, Calgary were sixth and seventh in heats to advance to final at 7:36 p.m. Sabrina Duchesne, Quebec City, was 11^th in heats and did not advance.

Triathlon

Women’s PT4 Final:  Chantal Givens, Winnipeg, was eighth.

Women’s PT5.: Christine Robbins, Ottawa and her guide Sasha Boulton, Guelph, Ont., were 10^th.

Table tennis

2:15 p.m.:  Stephanie Chan (Richmond B.C.) vs Kelly Van Zon (the Netherlands) women’s Class 7 semifinal. Lost 0-3, advances to bronze medal match.

Wheelchair basketball

10 a.m.: women’s preliminary – Canada lost to Germany 68-54 to drop to 2-1. Cindy Ouellet, Quebec City, led Canada with 23 points.

9 p.m.: men’s preliminary – Canada (0-3) vs Japan (0-2)

ABOUT TEAM CANADA IN RIO: Canada has a team of 162 athletes competing in 19 sports at the Paralympic Games, Sept. 7 to 18. For more information visit: http://paralympic.ca/team-canada-rio-2016 

About the Canadian Paralympic Committee: www.paralympic.ca 

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For more information, please contact:

Alison Korn

Senior Manager, Media Relations and Communications

Canadian Paralympic Committee

Rio cell: +55 (21) 99033-0131

Email: akorn@paralympic.ca

Martin Richard

Executive Director, Communications and Marketing

Canadian Paralympic Committee

Rio cell: + 55 (21) 99031-7843

Email: mrichard@paralympic.ca