Dunedin's Anna Grimaldi has won New Zealand's first gold medal at the Paralympics in Paris.
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 Oceania record, before smashing that in the final.
Regarded as her third-string event, this morning's result was sensational, particularly following the disappointment of her finishing fourth in the defence of her Women’s Long Jump T47 title the previous day, Paralympics NZ says. She had won gold at the Rio and Tokyo 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 and RNZ
