Kiwi leaves it all out on the track
WILLIAM Stedman literally left it all out on the track as the Christchurch teenager survived a thrilling finish to deliver New Zealand’s latest medal at the Rio Paralympics.
The 16-year-old was pipped to silver by Ukraine’s Roman Pavlyk in the men’s 400m T36 but held off Poland’s Krzysztof Ciuksza by two tenths of a second to claim bronze.
Stedman fainted after crossing the line and required medical support.
‘‘It’s half sunk in. It’s a bit surreal actually,’’ said Stedman, who finished in a time of 55.69sec, 1sec behind the winner, Paul Blake, of Britain.
‘‘I went into the race thinking I could get a medal, but I knew that to get one, I would have to run a massive PB [personal best] and I ended up doing that, so I am stoked.
‘‘Afterwards, I ended up being quite sick. I couldn’t walk for a while and I threw up, but I felt heaps better after I threw up so that was good. I just put everything into the race.’’
Stedman is the youngest member of the Kiwi Para-Athletics team. He first entered the international scene last year, competing at the IPC athletics world championships.
He has a form of Cerebral Palsy and was inspired to get involved in para-athletics after travelling through London as a 13-year-old on a family holiday around the time of the 2012 Paralympics.
Stedman’s bronze takes New Zealand’s overall medal tally to 19 (nine gold, five silver and five bronze) – one ahead of their preGames target. They are currently 10th on the medal table.
The nine golds equals the haul from the 1994 Atlanta Paralympics, meaning one more winning effort on the final day of competition today will make the Rio Games New Zealand’s most successful ever.
Stedman is back in action in the 800m T36, along with cyclists Emma Foy and Laura Thompson, Amanda Cameron and Hannah van Kampen and swimmer Hamish McLean.
Australia may have locked up gold with a race to spare in the sailing, but Kiwis Sailors Chris Sharp, Andrew May and Rick Dodson are still well in the for the minor placings.
The trio finished 11th and fourth in their two races yesterday and head into the medal race in sixth place, with six countries separated by just seven points.
Stedman was only the Kiwi to medal yesterday, despite four swimmers competing in finals.
Mary Fisher came closest in the women’s 200m individual medley SM11 but faded badly down the final stretch to concede the title she won four years ago.
Fisher, who won gold in the 100m backstroke SM11 last week, holds the world record in the 200m IM but found herself in lane two for the final having only qualified in fifth place. She was overtaken by Sweden’s Maja Reichard late in the breaststroke leg before unravelling in the freestyle to finish sixth.
Tupou Neiufi, 15, was seventh in the women’s 100m backstroke S9.
Cameron Leslie, who set a world record when winning his third consecutive 150m individual medley SM4 gold medal on Tuesday, finished seventh in the men’s 50m backstroke S5.
Jesse Reynolds, meanwhile, was unable to improve on his effort in qualifying as he finished seventh in the men’s 100m backstroke S9 final.