Fraser Sharp finished in eighth place in the cycling time trial final at the Rio Paralympics this morning. PHOTO:FILE
Fraser Sharp finished in eighth place in the cycling time trial final at the Rio Paralympics this morning. PHOTO:FILE
Tauranga resident Fraser Sharp finished eighth at the Rio Paralympics in the C3 cycling time trial final held earlier this morning.
The 38-year-old, who suffered a near fatal head injury as a teenager, recorded a time of 42 minutes 20.07 seconds around the 30km course, nearly four minutes behind thewinner in Ireland's Eoghan Clifford.
A top 10 performance is something to be very proud of for Sharp after his lack of preparation time. He initially missed out on selection for Rio but was called in with two weeks notice after Russian athletes were excluded from competing.
Clifford recorded a winning time of 38 minutes 21.79 seconds to repel the challenge of Japan's Masaki Fujita, who claimed silver, with Michael Sametz securing bronze.
Clifford, a three-time world champion in this event, adds Paralympic gold to the bronze he won in the Individual Pursuit on the track last Friday.
