By RNZ Sport
On the final day of Paralympic competition in Paris, Anna Grimaldi won New Zealand's first gold medal of the Games but some other para-athletes fell short of their own expectations.
Grimaldi's gold was a shock result and while the 27-year-old from Dunedin was overjoyed with her final showing at her third Paralympics some of her team mates experienced disappointment.
Cameron Leslie's dream of winning another Paralympic medal, eight years after last getting on the podium, fell agonisingly short as he finished fourth in the final of the men's 50m backstroke S4.
Leslie was the second fastest qualifier from the heats in a time of 43.05 seconds and expectations were high that the 34-year-old could claim a medal in his fourth and final event of the Games.
However, he could not quite repeat that performance in the final, recording a time of 44.20.
"The heat went really well, a good time and tonight's final and the changes we talked about I think I executed, but something wasn't there, the finish was terrible and ultimately it is the finish is what decided third and fourth," Leslie said.
"I feel a bit annoyed to be honest like I hate getting hung on outcome goals, but it (a medal) is something I really wanted but it just didn't pan out right. The sport moves forward there are some new people coming through in the S4 classification."
Roman Zhdanov - a Neutral Paralympic Athlete - successfully defended his title from Tokyo to stop the clock in 42.30 - 0.40 clear of the silver medallist Angel de Jesus Camacho Ramirez of Mexico.
Arnost Petracek took the bronze in 43.96.
Leslie ended his Paris 2024 campaign having made four finals and placing fourth in two events.
Scott Martlew, who had qualified so impressively into the A final of the Men's 200m KL2, had to settle for fifth in the final clocking a time of 42.82.
The 31-year-old Para canoeist from Christchurch did not quite make the start he would have wanted and was always playing catch-up for the remainder of the race at the Vaires-sur-Marne Stadium.
Gold was secured by Australia's Curtis McGrath who powered to a hat-trick of Paralympic titles in this event flashing past the finish line in 41.31 - more than a second clear of Great Britain's David Phillipson who grabbed silver (42.43). Bronze went to the Tokyo silver medallist Mykola Syniuk of Ukraine in 42.61.
"I was in a good space and feeling confident, but I didn't have a great start out of the blocks and was playing catch up. I managed to refocus and stick to my race plan I was just a little bit too far behind unfortunately," Martlew said.
"Everyone lifts for the final it is such a quality field out there. Every year it seems to get more competitive and congrats to the guys. What you always want is a tough final - and that's what we had."
The Cantabrian, who earlier in the programme smashed his New Zealand record to win men's 400m T36 silver and who also placed fourth in the men's long jump T36, trailed in the early stage but he finished strongly to trim 0.05 from his New Zealand record mark which was set in Switzerland last year.
In a fast final Australia's James Turner equalled the Paralympic record in 11.85 seconds to win gold. Alexis Sebastian Chavez of Argentina and China's Yifei Yang were credited with a time of 11.88, although it was Chavez who was awarded the silver medal on a photo-finish.
Stedman was pleased to end his Games with a personal best.
"Maybe from 30m to 50m wasn't quite good but I came home strong. It has been a bit week too. I'm tired, so I can't complain with a PB in my final race.
"I have definitely had the best preparation of any campaign. I'm disappointed with the long jump, I think there is a much bigger jump in there but having said that my jumping is not super consistent yet, so there is heaps of room to improve. I'm excited and super, super happy with how I went in the 400m with no sleep (the night before) so to run a big PB and get a silver medal, I'm super proud with that. The 100m was a nice bonus at the end."
Paralympic debutant Mitch Joynt finished sixth in the final of the men's 200m T64, recording a time of 23.16 - within 0.01 of his lifetime best.
The double Para World Athletics Championships bronze medallist in this event comfortably qualified third from his morning heat in a time of 23.20 and in a high-class final the 29-year-old Aucklander acquitted himself with pride.
Sherman Isidro Guity Guity of Costa Rica was unstoppable in the final blitzing to a Paralympic record of 21.32 to complete the men's 100m T64 and men's 200m T64 double. Levi Vloet of the Netherlands took silver in a PB of 22.47 with South African Mpumelelo Mhlongo of South Africa taking bronze in a T44 world record mark of 22.62.
Teenager Gabriella Smith who was the youngest member of the New Zealand Paralympic team placed eighth in the final of the women's 200m Individual Medley SM10 clocking a time of 2:41.19.
In her heat the Rangi Ruru Girls' School student cut 0.86 from her lifetime best recording 2:38.82 to place fourth and advance seventh fastest for the final.
The 18-year-old could not quite repeat that performance in the final.
"Being the last day the goal was to just swim my best. It is a long meet, 10 days and the 200m IM is one of my favourite events.
"I was not ranked the highest, but it is a race where you just need to put your head in, do your turns and skills and drills and executed well. This morning (in the heats) I was lucky enough to do that, although the time was a little slower in the final, I am exceptionally happy I made it into the final.
"It boosted my happiness after an interesting 400m free (where she did not make the final) the other day, this was redemption. I'm happy with the overall performance."
