PARIS (AP) — Competitions continue at the Paralympic Games in Paris on Friday, with medals to be won in six of the 22 scheduled sports.
The first Paralympian medalists in athletics will be crowned at Stade de France in the morning, with women’s discus, long jump and shot put competitions. Men will run the 5,000 meters T11 final for athletes with visual impairments and throw javelins in the F38 final for competitors with coordination impairments.
The action continues in the evening session with more highlights including the women’s 200 meters T37 final.
Brazil’s Petrucio Ferreira, the world’s fastest Paralympian, will be going for a new title in the T47 classification 100 meters, where he holds a record of 10.29 seconds.
Altogether on Friday, there are medals enticing Paralympians in para athletics, para cycling track, para swimming, para table tennis, para taekwondo and para shooting.
Here is a closer look at what to watch on Day 2 of the Paralympics. A total of 4,400 athletes with physical, visual and intellectual impairments are competing until Sept. 8.
France’s hope
One of the day’s highlights looks set to be the appearance of two-time R9 world champion Tanguy de La Forest in the mixed 10m air rifle standing competition in front of his home fans at Chateauroux.
Despite success elsewhere, De La Forest is yet to win a medal at a Paralympics after competing at five Games.
De La Forest, the former CEO of the French Paralympic Committee, will hope that changes with home support for his sixth attempt.
Challenge for India’s sharpshooter
Para shooter Avani Lekhara, the first Indian woman to win a pair of medals at a single edition of the Paralympics, returns to defend her 10-meter air rifle gold in the SH1 category from Tokyo.
But Lekhara faces a challenge from the Chinese duo of Zhang Cuiping and Zhong Yixin. Zhang has won nine medals over the four previous games.
Chufarov’s quest for gold
Ukrainian para swimmer Danylo Chufarov, who was forced to flee the Russian invasion of Mariupol, will race in the men’s 400m freestyle S11 final for athletes with extremely low visual acuity and/or no light perception.
Chufarov, who is legally blind, was featured in “20 Days in Mariupol,” the Academy Award-winning film from AP journalists Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka, when they filmed him at a well getting water.
Chufarov was forced to flee — like the journalists — shortly afterward, with his wife and dog.
He stayed in Ukraine and continued training there, winning three world titles last year.
Chufarov has already won five medals at a Paralympics — now he’s aiming for his first gold.
Czech teenager David Kratochvil is carrying Czech hopes of a medal in the same race. The 16-year-old Kratochvil lost his sight because of a serious illness about 10 years ago. He used to play ice hockey but switched to the pool, where he set world records in the 50 and 200 meter backstroke last year.
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