Wheelchair athlete Austin Smeenk from Oakville, Ontario, secured a bronze medal in the men’s 400-meter T34 final at the Para Athletics World Championships held in New Delhi on a hot and humid Monday. Smeenk clocked a time of 49.43 seconds, slightly slower than his season best of 48.50 seconds, but it was enough to edge out Ali Radi Arshid of Qatar by a mere 9-100ths of a second, claiming Canada’s first medal at the event. Smeenk’s personal best stands at 48.06, which he set as a world record in June 2024.
The gold in the event was clinched by Chaiwat Rattana from Thailand with a time of 48.01, followed by Rheed McCracken from Great Britain finishing at 48.67.
In the previous year’s championships in Paris, Smeenk had won his first major championship medal, securing the world 400 bronze and also earning a silver in the 100-meter event. Expressing his thoughts on winning the bronze, Smeenk stated, “Medals are symbolic tokens of significance, to say that we’ve done something sweet. I was third in the world today. That’s pretty good.”
Last year in France, Smeenk had claimed two medals at his third Paralympics, winning bronze in the 100 meters and gold in the 800 meters. However, the 400 meters was not part of the competition back then.
Born with a hereditary form of paraplegia that causes stiffness in his lower limbs, Smeenk can walk short distances and ride a bicycle for longer distances. He is one of the seven Paralympic medallists representing Canada in the 26-member team at the championships.
Two years ago in Paris, Canada had its most successful world championships, securing 14 medals, the highest since earning 15 in 2013.
Julia Hanes from LaSalle, Ontario, set a new Canadian record and topped the Americas mark in the women’s F34 javelin final with a throw of 16.86 meters, securing a fifth-place finish. Hanes expressed her excitement over achieving a personal best and her aspiration to break the world record of 16.99 meters set by Lucyna Kornobys of Poland in 2019.
Additionally, on the same day, other Canadian athletes had notable performances with Addisyn Franceschini from Geraldton, Ontario, finishing 6th in the women’s discus throw F64 final with a personal best throw of 25.76 meters, and Nick Neri from Brampton, Ontario, taking the 7th spot in the men’s 1,500-meter T13 heat with a time of 4:10.16.