Zak Madell and Canada’s wheelchair rugby team wrapped up its run at the 2024 Paralympic Games, in Paris, with a sixth-place finish.
That matches the result from the 2021 Paras in Tokyo.
The Canadians (2-3) fell 53-50 in a close fifth-place match to France, on Monday, despite another outstanding performance from Madell, who had 35 tries, bringing his tournament total to 148, or 2906 per game,
Madell carried the load, with Kanda Kovac the next highest for Canada with five. Meanwhile, the French had two players with more than 20 tries (Jonathan Hivernat, with 25, and Sebastien Verdin, with 21).
The Canucks began their tournament by losing 51-48 to USA in a thriller. They then bounced back with a 54-47 win over Germany.
Japan then extinguished Canada’s Paralympic dream with a 50-46 defeat. Canada rebounded in a 56-46 win over the Danish to earn a spot in the fifth-place match.
Madell has only one podium finish in his five Paralympic Games where he has bore the red maple leaf: a silver at London in 2012. Patrice Dagenais, Trevor Hirschfield, Travis Murao, and Mike Whitehead, are four other players from that roster who were on this year’s team.
A quarter of the 12-person team made its Paralympic debut.
