At last, Canada’s Brent Lakatos added a second gold medal to his impressive racing resume.

The decorated athlete from Dorval, Que., won gold in the men’s T53 800m final on Thursday, giving Canada its sixth gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Paris.

The 44-year-old racer clocked a season-best time of 1:37.32. Defending champion Pongsakorn Paeyo of Thailand won silver at 1:38.26, and Brian Siemann of the United States claimed bronze at 1:38.44.

​​”It feels absolutely amazing,” Lakatos said to CBC after the race. “It has been eight long years and so many silver medals. It’s so good to be finally back and get to sing O Canada.”

The opening turn saw the world record holder, who started in lane seven, emerge from the outside and power his way to second before gliding past rival Paeyo at the halfway point.

By the final stretch, a determined Lakatos separated himself from the pack before crossing the finish line uncontested.

“This has taken a lot of planning,” he said. “The Canadian support staff have been great. We had a great strategy, taking control of the race. We executed the plan and it worked out really well.”

The victory gives Lakatos his 13th Paralympic medal and the second of these Games, keeping pace with swimmer Aurélie Rivard for most medals among Canadian athletes at the Games. Lakatos won silver in the T53 400m race on Sunday.   

He has now reached the 800m podium in four consecutive Paralympics.

Wrapping up his sixth Paralympics, Lakatos has yet to reveal whether he plans to compete at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.