Leanne Taylor captured a bronze medal during her first Paralympics Games after a gritty performance in the women’s (PTWC) triathlon, early Monday morning, at Paris.

This comes following the men’s and women’s events being postponed on seperate occasions, from heavy rain and the unsafe E. coli levels in the Seine River.

Taylor (Winnipeg, Man.) cruised through the 750m swim in third place and was quick on both her transitions to the 20 km bike course, and 5k wheelchair section. 

It came down to her recovery from a slower hand bike ride, with a very strong wheelchair segement, finishing just seven seconds ahead of fourth, with a total time of 1:12:11. 

The 32-year-old was paralyzed from the waist down during a biking accident in 2018, and immediately set her sights on competing in the Games.

Remarkably, Taylor competed in her first Para Triathlon, just eight months after her injury.

FOURTH AGAIN FOR NEW BRUNSWICK ATHLETE

Elsewhere for Canada, Kamylle Frenette (Dieppe, N.B.) just missed the podium with a fourth place finish (PTS5), her second in as many Games. 

The 28-year-old was in sixth place after the bike portion, but recovered on her run to almost finished 3:05 behind bronze.

Frenette was fourth out of the water, and sixth out of bike and headed to the run.

DANIEL GOES DOWN

On the men’s side Stefan Daniel (Calgary) was leading the pack on the third lap of the (PTS5) bike race, when he heartbreakingly crashed.

It was disappointing for the 27-year-old, who had already won a silver medal in Rio 2016 and bronze in Tokyo, during the 2021 Games.

The number one ranked Daniel managed to resume and still crossed the finish line with a 10th place finish.