Swimmer Nicholas Bennett came from behind to secure Canada’s first gold medal at the Paris Paralympics, making a powerful statement in his second event of the Games, Sunday in Paris.

After winning his first Paralympic medal (a silver) in the men’s SB14 200-metre freestyle final on Saturday, the 20-year-old swimmer set out for more in the 100-metre breaststroke.

He certainly found it.

“It’s still hard to believe,” the Parksville, B.C. native said to Benoit Huot, of CBC Sports, himself a retired nine-time Paralympic medalist. “Doing amazing in front of all of these people, it’s just hard to describe how I’m feeling right now.”

In the men’s SB14 100-metre breaststroke, the Parksville, B.C. native did not start as the frontrunner. 

Japan’s world record holder Naohide Yamaguchi had a powerful start and led the way through the first 50 metres, while Bennett stayed focused and maintained his pace.

At the halfway mark, the Canadian was in third place with a split time of 29.80 seconds, trailing just behind Yamaguchi and Australia’s Jake Michel.

Things began to shift in the final 25-metres when Bennett started to take over with a powerful charge, passing both Yamaguchi and Michel, beating them to the wall with a time of 1:03:98.

“My head is spinning right now,” he told Swim Canada. “We’ve been working my breaststroke every day for the past year. Breaststroke is such a finicky race for myself.”

Michel took his second career Paralympic silver for Australia with a time of 1:04:27, finishing just 0.29 seconds behind the Canuck.

Yamaguchi, the gold medalist for the same event in Tokyo three years ago, claimed bronze for Japan at 1:04:94.