The Paralympic Games in Beijing are coming to an end and for the penultimate day of the high mass of snow and ice sports, Saturday March 12, two of the leaders of the tricolor delegation have experienced opposite destinies: the flag bearer during the opening ceremony, Benjamin Daviet, won his third medal during this edition, while Marie Bochet ended her impressive Paralympic career with a fall in slalom.
Brian McKeever, the man of the Games
The 42-year-old Canadian became one of the most successful athletes in history by winning his 16the Paralympic gold medal and equals the record of former German alpine skier Gerd Schönfelder.
Under the Zhangjiakou sun, Brian McKeever won the middle distance cross-country skiing event (visually impaired category). In China, the Calgary native had already won two titles, winning the sprint and crowning the 20 km classic.
The Canadian, who made his Paralympic debut twenty years ago at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, was playing his last Paralympic Games in Beijing.
A bittersweet penultimate day for the Blues
Benjamin Daviet is ” very happy “. Marie Bochet, she, “Relieved it’s over”. The two leading figures of the tricolor delegation to the Paralympic Games in Beijing experienced opposite fates on Saturday.
On the slopes of the Nordic site of Zhangjiakou, the Haut-Savoyard won silver in cross-country skiing medium distance (standing category), overtaken by the wire by the Chinese Wang Chenyang. The native of Annecy, 32, had already won the Paralympic titles this week in cross-country sprint and individual biathlon. He will compete in the long distance relay on Sunday, where he promises to “rip your guts out” to search for a new medal.
Marie Bochet experienced a new disappointment: the eight-time Paralympic champion ended her stay in Beijing with a fall during the slalom (standing category). “It was so dense these Games”reacted on the verge of tears the 28-year-old athlete.
“We’ve been in isolation for two months, we’ve been in trouble because of the Covid, we’ve been away from our loved ones. Was all that too long for me, who am very sensitive? May be. »
After a fall last weekend in the downhill, Marie Bochet had managed to win the silver in the super-G, but had finished off the podium in the super combined (5e) and giant slalom (4e). The Beijing Paralympics were his last. “I believe that these Games also showed me that it was really over, that I had really gone to the end of things”even if “I don’t know what the future will hold” for now, she said after her run.
France still fourth in the nations ranking
France has ten medals, including six gold, and retains its 4e place in the country ranking. China is still first – 57 medals, including 17 gold – ahead of Ukraine – 28 medals, including 10 gold – and Canada – 23 medals, including 8 gold.
Sunday for the last day of the Paralympic Games in Beijing, new chances of medals are to follow, on the French side with the cross-country ski relay, but also the men’s alpine skiing, where the young Arthur Bauchet, 21 years old and already titled twice in Beijing, will notably be aligned in slalom.
The Aigner sisters, a beautiful story on Chinese soil
For the great story of the day: three Austrian sisters found themselves on the podium in the slalom in alpine skiing (visually impaired category). Aged 19, Veronika Aigner won her second Paralympic title in two days, guided by her older sister Elisabeth, 23. Their youngest Barbara, 16, won the money.