Papaconstantinou sets personal best en route to 100m bronze, 1st Paralympic medal
Dorris wins gold, Rivard and Newkirk miss podium on final day of swimming events
Another Canadian is off the mark with her first Paralympic medal.
Marissa Papaconstantinou fought back to win bronze with a photo finish in the women's T64 100-metre dash on Friday.
The 21-year-old sprinter from Toronto set a personal best time of 13.07 seconds during the race, finishing behind gold medallist the Netherlands' Marlene van Gansewinkel (12.78) and Germany's Irmgard Bensusan (12.88) who took silver.
"I was so focused on my lane and didn't see too much around me, I made sure I stayed on the gas all the way to the finish line," Papaconstantinou said following the race.
"I remember feeling like I was pulling away from the rest of the group in those last 10 metres."
WATCH | What you missed on Day 10 in Tokyo:
Papaconstantinou booked her spot in the final by running a previous personal best time of 59.98 seconds on Thursday evening.
It's been a Paralympics of continued development for Papaconstantinou, who has fought through a variety of devastating injuries since 2018.
She set a personal best during her 200-metre final on Tuesday, but came up shy of the podium in fifth position.
WATCH | Canada's Marissa Papaconstantinou wins 100m bronze:
Papaconstantinou represented Canada at Rio 2016 — her first Paralympics — at 16, where she qualified for the 200-metre final, but was disqualified for a lane violation.
In 2017, she suffered another run-in with bad luck after tearing her hamstring at the World Para Athletics Championship (in a race she won), before tearing a tendon in her knee one year later.
After sustaining another hamstring injury in 2019 and contending with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's been a trying road to Tokyo.
"For a couple of years there, I was feeling discouraged because I was just so confused as to why these things kept happening," she said, prior to Tokyo 2020.
On Day 10, Papaconstantinou's commitment has paid off with bronze.
WATCH | Papaconstantinou is awarded her 1st Paralympic medal:
Danielle Dorris swims to gold
On the final day of swimming competition at the Tokyo Paralympics, Danielle Dorris won gold for Canada in the pool, achieving a world record twice in one day with her swim.
After setting a world and Paralympic record in her qualifying heat of the S7 50-metre butterfly, she went on to set a new mark of 32.99 seconds in the final.
It's her second medal at these Games, the other being silver in the S7 100-metre backstroke.
Read more about Dorris's astounding race as competition closes out in the pool here.
Canada's Camille Bérubé also competed in the event, but failed to qualify for the final.
WATCH | Dorris smashes her own world record for gold:
Sitting volleyball women fall to China, will play for bronze
Canada's women's sitting volleyball team will be playing for bronze.
The Cinderella run to the quarter-final was ended in straight-sets (25-18, 25-20, 25-15) by China, which has yet to drop a set in the Paralympic tournament.
Canada got off to a competitive start but every instance where the Canadians appeared to get close to assuming control, China would quickly recapture momentum.
Strong interviews by the Canadians after their loss to China in the women’s sitting volleyball semifinal. <br><br>Refocusing on the bronze medal game against Brazil tomorrow. <br><br>“We’re competitive. We can play with the best. We’re here to win a medal” says captain Danielle Ellis.
—@Devin_HerouxJulie Kozun of Melfort, Sask., led Canada with 11 points.
Canada will now take on Brazil at 3:30 a.m. ET on Saturday in the bronze-medal game.
Canada lost to Brazil 3-2 in a closely contested Tokyo 2020 opening match.
The Canadian squad proceeded to defeat Italy and Japan en route to a berth in Friday's semifinal.
WATCH | Canada defeated by China, will play for bronze:
Rivard and Newkirk's races
Canada's Aurélie Rivard and Shelby Newkirk also posted speedy fourth place finishes at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre.
Rivard, the 25-year-old who has collected five medals at these Games, put up a time of two minutes 28.73 seconds in the SM10 200-metre individual medley final.
The swimmer from St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., moved up from fifth place to third during the backstroke leg of her race, but was passed during the following breaststroke. Her mastery of freestyle saw her touching the wall just off the podium by 0.87 seconds.
She earlier placed third in her heat with a time of 2:34.52 on Friday in Japan. She took silver in the event at the 2016 Paralympics.
Rivard has 10 Paralympic medals total over the course of her career.
Newkirk also had a terrific swim in the women's S6 100-metre backstroke final, breaking the Canadian record with a time of 1:21.79. She was 0.63 seconds off the bronze in her respective race.
The athlete cruised into the final by winning her heat in 1:22.83. Newkirk had won silver in the discipline at 2019 worlds, and is making her Paralympic debut in Tokyo.
She was recently reclassified from S7 to S6. The higher the number, the less severe the impairment for athletes in that category.
WATCH | What you missed on Day 9 in Tokyo:
Canada's Elliot swims to 5th
In the men's SM10 200-metre individual medley, Canada's Alec Elliot raced to fifth place with a time of 2:15.26.
The 25-year-old's speedy swim for a time saw him chasing the bronze at his second Paralympic Games. He advanced to the final with a time of 2:18.01, the fourth-fastest time in heats.
Canadian Matthew Cabraja swam in the men's S11 100-metre butterfly, also placing fifth with a time of 1:05.97. Cabraja placed third in his qualifying heat with a time of 1:06.60.
In the women's S8 100-metre butterfly, Canadian Morgan Bird finished in 1:28.05 to place seventh.
Canada's Cunnington retires
In the S4 50-metre backstroke, Canada's Tammy Cunnington failed to advance to the medal race, and followed her final race of Tokyo with a retirement announcement.
On social media, she wrote she was proud to hold the title of two-time Paralympian and honoured to have represented Canada for the past seven years. Though she didn't achieve all she wanted to, Cunnington said, she'll celebrate what she did achieve.
The swimmer said she always did her best to represent Canada with "honour and integrity."
"There are so many words to say but right now it's very fresh and it's been an emotional day. My goggles were filling with tears at the end of my backstroke this morning," she said.
Cunnington thanked her family, coach, and close friends for the support.
Canadian 5th in long jump
Canada's Amy Watt placed fifth in the women's T45 long jump.
Watt, of Victoria, holds dual citizenship and competed for the U.S. at the 2016 Paralympics. Born without the lower part of her left arm and hand, Watt has also entered 100m, 200m and 400m races in international competition.
But the long jump is her only event in Tokyo. Watt leapt 5.28 metres on her second attempt, which stood up as her best on the day. The 23-year-old holds a personal best of 5.35 metres.
New Zealand's Anna Grimaldi won gold with a Paralympic record jump of 5.76 metres.
In the men's T47 400-metre, Canada's Thomas Normandeau's time of 50.33 seconds was just enough to advance despite placing fifth in his heat.
Normandeau, 25 of Peace River, Alta., will race in the final on Saturday at 8:01 a.m. ET.
Hennessy misses canoe podium
Canadian Brianna Hennessy fought to fifth in the women's Va'a single VL2 200-metre sprint.
The Canadian crossed the finish line with a time of 1:03.254.
It's the first time the discipline has been contested at the Paralympics, and as such was Hennessy's Games debut. The Va'a is a single-person canoe.
The 36-year-old Ottawa native previously qualified for the medal race with a time of 1:06.316 in her semifinal earlier Friday. She'll race in the kayak semifinal on Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Canada advances to finals on the track
Canadian Austin Smeenk, of Oakville, Ont., placed fourth in his heat of the men's T34 800-metre race in Tokyo.
The 24-year-old crossed the finish line in a time of 1:46.99.
Though Smeenk placed outside of the top three in his heat, the Canadian still advanced to finals by posting one of the next two fastest times. He'll race again at 8:55 p.m. ET on Friday.
Competing in his second Paralympics, he earlier placed seventh in the men's T34 100-metre dash at these Games.
And while Canada raced to a lifetime best in the 4x100-metre universal relay in its Paralympic debut, the team won't advance to the finals.
But no other team that raced in their heat will advance either, as only the top four times across all the qualifiers move on.
The team of Austin Ingram, Papaconstantinou, Zachary Gingras, and Jessica Frotten finished in a solid time of 49.38 seconds at the National Stadium, placing third in their heat.
Canada knocked out of BC4 boccia
Canada's BC4 boccia pairs team will not advance to the semifinals after posting two losses in group play on Friday in Tokyo.
The team of Alison Levine, Iulian Ciobanu and Marco Dispaltro first lost 5-2 to Great Britain at the Ariake Gymnasium Centre.
Great Britain opened up the scoreboard with a single point in the first end, but Canada responded by notching two points of their own in the second.
A strong second half of the game for their opponents saw Great Britain posting two points in each of the final two ends.
<a href="https://t.co/bDrF27v5Zr">pic.twitter.com/bDrF27v5Zr</a>
—@BocciaAlisonThe Canadians were also defeated by Slovakia, who had won all of its other matches in Group A.
Though Canada scored a total of three points in the second and third ends, Slovakia was able to get two points in both the first and fourth ends to take the match 4-3.
Only the top two teams in each group move on to the semifinals. Canada's single win in the tournament placed the team in fifth of its group's standings.
Canada wheelchair basketball teams earn 5th, 8th place
Canada's women's wheelchair basketball team had dominating performance on Friday to earn fifth place in the tournament.
The team beat Japan 68-49 in a classification game at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The Japanese were only able to outscore Canada in the second half of the game — but the Canadians' massive lead kept the win within comfortable grasp.
Rosalie Lalonde had a 20-point game, while Kady Dandeneau and Cindy Ouellet also reached double digits with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Earlier, the Canadian men's team finished in eighth place after its game against Germany.
The Canadians lost 68-56 against the Germans, who earned seventh.
It was an improvement from Rio 2016 where the Canadian men placed 11th.
Bo Hedges, team captain, was Canada's highest scorer with 16 points, while Colin Higgens notched 12. Patrick Anderson and Nik Goncin, who had great performances in Tokyo, had six and eight points each.
Meier makes history despite badminton elimination
Olivia Meier of Winnipeg went out of the badminton tournament on a winning note, despite failing to advance to the semifinals.
The 22-year-old defeated Australia's Caitlin Dransfield 2-1 in the final match of women's SL4 single group play, but her Tokyo 2020 campaign comes to an end following two previous losses.
Regardless, Meier leaves the competition as Canada's first-ever Para badminton player to take the court at a Paralympics.
With files from Christine Rankin, Myles Dichter, Dion Caputi
