Image credit: Canadian Paralympic Committee

By Marty Hastings

PARALYMPIC GAMES

Late night ahead for those wishing to watch Stewart go for gold at Paralympics

Sep 3, 2024 | 12:02 PM

Greg Stewart of Kamloops will be aiming to repeat as Paralympic Games champion on Wednesday (Sept. 4) in Paris.

The men’s F46 shot put event is scheduled to begin at 1:05 a.m. and will feature 11 competitors.

Stewart won gold at the 2020 Paralympics, which were rescheduled amid the pandemic and held in 2021 in Tokyo.

The 7-foot-2 Kamloops Track and Field Club athlete won gold in Japan with a Paralympics-record heave of 16.75 metres, his personal-best mark which is also the Canadian record.

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Stewart announced his retirement in 2022, but returned to action in time to claim silver earlier this year at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, where he recorded his season-best mark of 16.14m.

Of the 11 athletes slated to compete on Wednesday, only Sachin Sarjerao Khilari of India has thrown further than Stewart this season, with a mark of 16.33m.

Joshua Cinnamo of the U.S. is the only athlete in the event with a better personal-best throw (16.80m) than Stewart.

The F46 class is for athletes whose upper limb or limbs are affected by limb deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement, according to World Para Athletics.

Stewart was born without the lower part of his left arm.

He moved the implement 13.08m at his first International Paralympic Committee-sanctioned shot put event in 2017.

His growth over the next two years was phenomenal under the tutelage of coach Dylan Armstrong, an Olympic bronze medallist shot putter.

Stewart won silver at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, throwing 16.30m to establish a Canadian record and dismantle his own personal best.

He bested that mark on Throw 1 in Tokyo in 2021 to claim gold for Canada.

Patrick Waters has taken over coaching duties and is with Stewart in Paris.

Stewart was part of Canadian sitting volleyball teams that won bronze at the Parapan American Games in 2007 and 2011.

He won three world titles with the national Para standing volleyball team and played basketball for the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack, earning the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2011, along with Canada West defensive player of the year honours in 2010 and 2011.