This coverage was first sent as an email newsletter to our subscribers. Sign up to receive it, for free, on our Ottawa at the Paralympics page.
Newsletter By Dan Plouffe, Adam Beauchemin, Jackson Starr & Kaitlyn LeBoutillier
Keegan Gaunt goes for it in 400 m finale of first Paralympics
Keegan Gaunt knew she’d need an extraordinary performance to advance past the heats of the T13 women’s 400 metres today at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, and that’s what the 24-year-old Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club product went for.
More of a middle-distance runner, Gaunt pressed for a career best in the one-lap sprint event, but felt the effects of the fast effort down the home stretch en route to a sixth-place finish in her heat.
“I had a very strong first 200-300 metres,” Gaunt noted in an interview with Ottawa Sports Pages reporter Dan Plouffe. “My goal was to get out quick and see what happens. I’ve only ran a couple 400s this year, and I just wanted to go out quicker than I have been and try to hold on.
“It definitely made for a tough last 100 metres. But yeah, I wanted to do that and see what happened.”
Gaunt finished 12th out of the 14 athletes entered overall to miss the top-8 cutoff for the final, bringing to a conclusion her first Paralympics appearance.
The Merivale High School grad clocked in with a time of 1:03.16, which came within a second of her season-best performance of 1:02.20 from the Canadian championships in late June.
~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
“It was definitely different switching gears from a 1,500 to a 400, but I wanted to see what I had and try to pull out a personal best. Unfortunately I didn’t do that today, but it was still a good race,” highlighted Gaunt, who placed ninth in her stronger T13 women’s 1,500 m event for athletes with visual impairments on Saturday.
Gaunt had earned the qualification standard time for the 400 m and didn’t want to miss out on the chance to run a second event at the Paralympics, even if it isn’t her bread and butter. The Paralympic programme has a reduced selection of events for each type of disability classification than your typical track meet.
“I’d love if there was an 800,” Gaunt indicated. “Unfortunately, there isn’t. Just given the amount of different classifications, they can’t offer every event, so that does mean there is no 800 in my [class], so we shift focus to the 1,500, and that’s my main one.”
Gaunt was also an OFSAA provincial cross-country running competitor in high school and with the University of Guelph Gryphons. She said she’s received many messages from past high school teachers and teammates around the Paralympics, and is happy to share an Ottawa connection with Canadian para athletics teammate Bianca Borgella.
“It has been really great to have all their support,” underlined Gaunt, who is now based in Victoria at Athletics Canada’s west hub and is looking forward to returning to Ottawa for next year’s Canadian championships.
Gaunt, whose parents are both past Paralympians, has treasured the opportunity to compete in her first Paralympics after narrowly missing out on the Tokyo Games.
“It’s been amazing,” she smiled. “And having friends and family here has been a big support as well. The crowd in the stadium at the Stade de France is one of the biggest crowds ever I think, so that’s been incredible. I’ve never ran in front of that many people, so that definitely sticks out and is something I’ll remember.”
With Paralympics #1 now in the books, Gaunt is eager to return again in the future.
“L.A. 2028 is definitely in the horizon,” she signalled. “So excited to go back and train and gear up for that and hopefully improve on the results from this Games.”
Capital region Paralympians compete in judo, athletics, volleyball
Gaunt was the lone Ottawa Paralympian competing today, but several other athletes connected to the national capital region were also in action Thursday.
Priscilla Gagne, who splits her time between Ottawa and Montreal’s national judo training centre, placed fourth in the women’s 57 kg J1 category.
University of Ottawa medical school grad Julia Hanes of Lasalle, ON threw a personal-best of 7.15 m in the women’s F33 shotput final to finish sixth.
And Carleton Place’s Anne Fergusson and Pembroke’s Jolan Wong will play for the bronze medal in women’s sitting volleyball after Canada dropped a 25-16, 25-22, 25-18 semi-final contest to China.
Ottawa Paralympians in action on September 6:
Preview: Paddler Brianna Hennessy will enter second Paralympics with markedly different expectations than her first
The last local athlete to begin their Paralympic competition is para canoe paddler Brianna Hennessy. She’ll race in the heats for both her VL2 va’a canoe and KL1 kayak women’s 200 m events on Friday morning.
Several Ottawa Paralympians have put in solid performances to date, but Hennessy also represents the capital’s best shot at a medal.
The 39-year-old Ottawa River Canoe Club athlete finished just over one second away from the Paralympic podium one year after taking up the sport during COVID. With a little more experience under belt, Hennessy won five medals out of six World Championships races between 2022 and 2024. That’s made her objectives for Paralympics #2 different than the first.
“Even though we have been attaining some podium positions for Canada in World Cups and World Champs over these past few years, this year was the first time I feel like that I’ve said out loud that I want to set that as a goal to podium for Canada,” Hennessy said in a pre-Games interview with Ottawa Sports Pages reporter Jackson Starr. “That’s (a) realization for me, because I like to stay super humble, and just shut my mouth, put my head down, and just work my ass off.”
As always, there is much more to Hennessy’s pursuit than chasing medals. From a life-altering injury, to rediscovering her love of sport, to finding a new sport during the pandemic, to losing her mom, Hennessy’s path to the Paris Paralympics has frequently been exceptionally difficult.
Hennessy calls her mom “my Wonder Woman,” and the canoe paddle she’ll use in Paris, which her coach helped her craft, pays tribute to that character.
“I get emotional just because we’ve all been through this,” she said of her family. “My dad’s going to be there, my brother’s going to be there, my aunt, my mom’s only sister, and her kids and their kids are going to be there. We’ve got about a dozen family members coming.
“We’ve all been through a lot with our grieving, and we still are grieving. Having their support there is everything to me in those moments.
“It’s been so hard to keep everything together, with my heart smashed into a million pieces. My mom was my rock, my best friend, the pillar of my life that kept everything together.
“Just having them show me their love and support in those moments is everything to me, and I’m hoping it’s that extra push to do something super special.”
You can read more about Hennessy’s journey in Starr’s full feature here.
You can also check out CBC Sports’ story on Hennessy, where she makes a strong case for integration of Paralympic events into Olympic competition, similar to what she experiences was racing international canoe-kayak events outside of the Paralympics.
“We talk about inclusivity, but in the biggest moments when we’re trying to show that human spirit and how we’re all one and how we’re celebrating the world together and these moments of peace and unity and equality, it’s the biggest time where we’re showing that we’re completely segregated,” she highlighted.
Trinity Lowthian set for her top wheelchair fencing discipline Friday
Also in action Friday will be wheelchair fencer Trinity Lowthian of Stittsville. The 22-year-old is similar to Hennessy in that she’s reached the Paralympics despite being very new to her sport, having only begun her journey to Paris two years ago with Ottawa Fencing.
She got warmed up for Friday’s women’s category B epée competition (her strongest event) with Tuesday’s sabre competition, where she lost her opening bout 15-8 to South Korea’s Eun Hye Cho and then took a narrow 15-14 defeat against Brazil’s Monica Santos in the repechage round.
“I really wanted to take [Tuesday] to have fun and then on Friday to focus in and really be in the zone,” Lowthian said via the Canadian Paralympic Committee. “[Tuesday] was my day to be out of the zone and enjoy everything else.”
Lowthian was ranked 16th internationally for sabre, while she’s #8 for epée.
“Really focusing, really wanting to do well,” she said of her goals. “Get several wins and just enjoy the day too — that’s why I’m here.”
Not in action Friday is Bianca Borgella.
Before the Games, the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club para athletics sprinter had been unsure if she’d be able to run Friday’s 4×100 m universal relay due to a hamstring injury she’d battled in the six weeks leading up to the Paralympics. When she crumpled to the ground in the T13 women’s 100 m final with what proved to be a grade 3 muscle tear on Tuesday, it ended her first Paralympics.
Borgella qualified for the final earlier on Tuesday by placing second in her heat in a time of 12.15 seconds.
“I ran at 85-90% and finished without pain, giving me hope for the finals,” Borgella recounted in an Instagram post. “Just 10 minutes before the race, my hamstring ached, but I refused to turn back. I wanted to represent Canada despite the risks of re-injury.”
After keeling over about 30 metres into the final, Borgella hobbled to the finish line, counting an official time of 25.11 seconds.
“I am proud to say that I finished the race,” added the 21-year-old. “This isn’t the end for me. I will return better, stronger, and faster – just you wait!”
There aren’t any Ottawa players on either the men’s or women’s wheelchair basketball teams, but there couldn’t be a better sneak peak of what’s in store for the 2026 world championships in Ottawa than Canada’s upcoming Paralympic medal matches.
The Canadian women’s team will face off against Netherlands for a spot in the gold medal game Thursday. The Dutch are the defending Paralympic champions, while Canada is playing in the semi-finals for the first time since 2004.
The Canadian men fell to defending Paralympic champion USA in the semi-finals Thursday by a score of 80-43. They’ll play for the bronze on Saturday.
And Toronto’s Jody Schloss, who was based in Ottawa prior to her Paralympic debut at London 2012, will compete in Friday’s para equestrian team event at Chateau de Versailles. The 51-year-old is representing Canada at her third Paralympics.
From Aug. 28-Sept. 8, the Ottawa Sports Pages will be providing daily Ottawa at the Paralympics coverage via our free email newsletter. Sign up below to follow along!
By clicking on the submit button, you consent to receive a newsletter from Ottawa Sports Pages. You may unsubscribe by clicking on the link at the bottom of our emails. Ottawa Sports Pages | 21 Kolo Dr., Ashton, ON, K0A 1B0