Nicole Murray claimed the bronze medal in the women's C5 3000m individual pursuit at the Paris Paralympic Games. Photo / Getty Images
Nicole Murray claimed the bronze medal in the women's C5 3000m individual pursuit at the Paris Paralympic Games. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand have claimed two more medals at the Paris Paralympic Games with success on the cycling track and the running track.
Kiwi cyclist Nicole Murray has gone one better than her finish at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021, claiming the bronze medal in the women’s C5 3000m individual pursuit in Paris.
Murray, 31, beat Italian Claudia Cretti in the race for the bronze medal, winning by a margin of more than 7sec in an impressive performance.
The Kiwi had posted a qualifying time about just over 1sec faster than that of the Italian, and that margin in qualifying provided a fair indication of how the race for bronze went.
Murray got off to a good start, building a lead early on in the contest and continually building on it.
By the 1000m mark, Murray led by more than 3sec, and extended that to almost 5sec by the 2000m mark. Towards the end of the race, it looked like Murray might have had a chance to catch Cretti, but ultimately she pedalled her way to a convincing victory to earn herself a spot on the podium.
“I’m over the moon. This is my first Paralympic medal, it feels amazing, I’m glad I can honour the team and all the people around me and all the work they’ve put into me. It is cool to share that feeling with them,” Murray said.
Frustrated to have left her prosthetic at the Paralympic Village for her qualification she added: “It definitely cost me time at the start of the race but the team rallied and got the prosthetic for me for the final. I rode the final a lot smoother and a lot more consistently.”
It was New Zealand’s third medal of the Games after Anna Taylor claimed silver in the C4 3000m individual pursuit on Saturday and sprinter Danielle Aitchison took the silver in the women’s 200m T36 final just hours before Murray claimed her medal.
Silver for Danielle Aitchison
Only a day earlier, the Morrinsville-born 23-year-old stamped her medal credentials in the 200m final when she ran a 28.09sec to break the Paralympic Games record by 0.1sec in her heat.
It was an accolade Aitchison added alongside her reigning world record time of 27.47sec set in the final of the world championship in May and saw her enter the final as the fastest qualifier.
Danielle Aitchison claimed the silver medal in the women's 200m T36 final. Photo / Getty Images
But in a tightly contested final, it was a two-horse race as the Kiwi was outpaced by reigning Paralympic champion Shi Yiting of China by 0.14sec; the Chinese athlete breaking Aitchison’s Paralympic record and finishing just 0.03sec off Aitchison’s world record time.
The final was significantly faster than when the two competed at the Tokyo Games in 2021 with the same result; Aitchison bettered her time from that final by more than 2sec in Paris.
It was Aitchison’s third Games medal, following a silver in the same event and a bronze in the 100m T36 in Tokyo, but was one that might have come with a tinge of disappointment given her times leading into the race.
“It’s definitely mixed emotions,” Aitchison told TVNZ after the race.
“I’m super happy to get silver and that was a brilliant race, but I’m just a little bit disappointed at the same time knowing that I definitely had a chance to get the gold medal and just that last five metres cost me.”
The two will likely meet again when the 100m T36 gets under way, with the heats taking place on Wednesday. Shi Yiting comes into that race as the defending Games champion as well, after a world-record time of 13.61sec in the Tokyo final.
“I’ve definitely got a few days to rest and recover and get my energy back and go again in the 100. I’m looking forward to it; hopefully another chance to go out there and smash it.”
