Paracanoeist Mathieu St-Pierre won the first World Cup medal of his career on Saturday, gold in the VL2 200m.
Shawinigan is the fastest with a time of 54.39 s. The end of his boat crossed the finish line before that with Spaniard Higinio Rivero, silver medalist (+0.31 seconds). Hungarian Tamas Juhasz (+0.61 seconds) completed the podium.
I have high expectations. We had a big camp in California this winter and I was someone who wanted to give myself a hard time. My training times were getting faster and faster, I was improving and I knew it was good, but that folding in the competition was another matter.
To get there, he had to overcome some challenges.
The weather in recent days has greatly disrupted the schedule for the World Cup in Poznan, Poland. The VL2 200m event was first shown on Friday, but the organization made the wise decision to postpone the races. Heavy rain and gusts of 50 km/h held throughout the day.
Not really funny. High and long waves. It is impossible to get to the starting line, because water enters the boat. We couldn’t even row! Many of us have never seen such conditions said Mathieu St-Pierre.
Another incident required adaptation on Saturday morning. After an athlete tested positive for COVID-19, the VL2 200m qualifying and semi-finals were canceled which set the stage for a nine-man final to begin the 2022 season.
When we started the race, the wind suddenly fell and it was just perfect, said the winner. This is even better! The race didn’t go the way I wanted from start to finish, but I managed it well.
Climbing to the top step of the podium in such difficult conditions is enough to motivate him for the future. He will now return to Canada and train for the World Championships in Nova Scotia in August.
If we can get another little tick, I should be with them. It’s fun when you’re thriving and always uplifting finishing one that participated in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo last summer.
With information from Sportcom
Source: Radio-Canada
