She blitzed the field on the track in the T47 200m final this morning (NZ time) in front of a packed out Stade de France, winning in a time of 24.72s to set a new Oceania record and a personal best.
Brittni Mason of the United States claimed silver in a time of 25.18s, while Thailand's Sasirawan Inthachot took bronze in 25.20s
Hours earlier, the 27-year-old also won her heat in 25.09s - and set an Oceania record, before smashing that in the final.
It is Grimaldi's second medal of the Games, having won bronze in the T47 100m in a time of 12.23s.
She had won gold at the Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2020) Games.
The 200m has been considered Grimaldi's third string event - making her gold medal all the more stunning and it was a surreal turnaround after she missed a medal by only 1cm in the long jump.
"It is never out of the realm of possibility to come fourth, last whatever, but it was a shock. More than that it was a shock because of the prep that we had done, how good I had been feeling in myself and my confidence.
"My long jumping has improved and it was a hard pill to swallow that I am a great long jumper but yesterday I didn't get to show it.
"Part of me was nervous for this (the 200m) because I haven't done many, I didn't know how to run one. We only spoke about tactics five minutes before call room. After the heat I knew if I could hold it together, I could run a really good time but I didn't know that good!
"It has been really freeing and I ran really freely today."
Grimaldi’s gold medal takes the total NZ Paralympic Team medal haul to eight at Paris 2024 with one gold, four silver and three bronze.
- ODT Online
