Cody Fournie (Victoria, B.C.) captured gold in the men’s T51 200m race at the Paralympic Games in Paris, on Tuesday morning.

The 35-year-old wheelchair racer — in his Paralympic debut — clocked a personal-best time of 37.64 to win Canada’s second gold medal at the Games, after Nicholas Bennett’s swimming gold on Monday.

“It’s not a bad start at all. It’s been a lot of hard work. My coach and I have put in a lot of effort and time,” Fournie said to the CBC, looking ahead to the 100m on Friday. “The 200 has always been the most difficult for me so it’s something we’ve worked on the hardest.”

Silver medallist Toni Piispanen, of Finland, clocked in at 38.55, and bronze medallist Peter Genyn of Belgium at 38.55.

A quadriplegic at the age of 11, Fournie first competed in wheelchair rugby and was a member of Canada’s national wheelchair rugby program before the transition to wheelchair racing.

“I didn’t know how much longer rugby was going to go for me,” Fournie said. “I just ran into someone and they directed me to coach Geoff [Harris] and everything else is history.”

The gold was Canada’s third medal in track and field. Wheelchair racers Brent Lakatos won a silver medal and Austin Smeenk claimed bronze.

Fournie grabbed silver in the 100m sprint at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, this past May.