MLA and wheelchair racer Stilwell races to fifth career gold medal

“For the last year and a half, two years, it’s really been my focus, to prepare for the 400,” Stilwell said. “I was pretty ecstatic. Going in I was ranked No. 2, so to be able to finish on top is what I came here to do. And to know the preparation my coach Peter Lawless and I put in to prepare, this is really what the goal was.”

Running out of Lane 3, Stilwell had passed her competitors with a few pushes of the wheel on the first corner, and cruised to victory in one minute 5.43 seconds for what will stand, at least for the next four years, as a Paralympic record.

Canada’s Brent Lakatos won the wheelchair 100 metres a night earlier.

Stilwell, who’s also a Member of the Legislative Assembly in B.C. — she’s the B.C. Minister of Social Development — is only the second female Paralympic athlete to have ever won gold in two separate summer sport events. She has four track gold medals, plus was a member of Canada’s wheelchair basketball team that claimed gold in 2000 in Sydney.

Every victory, she said, has its own story.

“In Sydney I had the opportunity to compete with 11 other amazing women and share the podium with them,” said Stilwell, who was paralyzed at the age of 17 when she was riding piggyback with a friend and fell backwards hitting her neck on a stair.

“And then Beijing was my first time on the track, and to be able to bring home two gold medals at those Games was phenomenal for me.

“And then to try to repeat that in London, it didn’t quite go the way I wanted it to. And now the 400 is an event we’ve never had for my classification, so I’m just elated that I was able to start off my Games with this performance and now I’m looking forward to a week from now in the 100 metres.”

The world record-holder in the 100 metres will race that distance next Saturday.

Canada’s Stefan Daniel also climbed on the medal podium on Saturday, racing to a silver medal in the inaugural triathlon.

The 19-year-old from Calgary moved up from fourth to second with a terrific 5K run. Daniel, who has a bilateral radial club hands, is also a strong able-bodied athlete and competes in cross-country for the University of Calgary’s track team.

Also, para-cyclist Tristen Chernove added to his silver medal earned on Friday by taking bronze in Saturday men’s C1-2-3 1,000 time trial. The 41-year-old from Powell River, B.C., raced to a personal-record time of 1:09.583 — 2.905 seconds behind winner Zhangyu Li of China.

“I am happy with the medal, it’s wonderful, but I am not riding at my performance levels right now,” said Chernove, who will also compete in the men’s road race C1-2-3 and time trial C2.

“I have got to get back on top of what I can do for the transition to the road.”

Through three days of competition Canada has earned eight medals, including four gold and three silver. That’s good for 11th in the overall medal count. China leads the way with a dominating 69 medals, including 26 gold. Ukraine (37) and Britain and Northern Ireland (35) round out the top three nations in total medals.

Canada’s coxed four rowing team — Victoria Nolan of Toronto, Meghan Montgomery of Winnipeg, Andrew Todd of Thunder Bay, Ont., and Curtis Halladay of Sudbury, Ont., — secured its spot in Sunday’s final after winning the repechage round.

Swimmer Aurelie Rivard, who won Canada’s first Paralympic gold medal on Friday, just missed out on another medal by finishing fourth in the women’s S10 100 backstroke.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

MLA and wheelchair racer Stilwell races to fifth career gold medal

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