It has been a long wait for the canoeists, paddling into action in Paris when most other sports have moved on to their sightseeing and Sazerac eras. But all the kicking their heels was worth it for the British team, who finished the penultimate day of the Games with two golds and two silvers at the Stade Nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne.
An end-of-term feel percolated, spectators queueing for photographs alongside both a giant Phryge – the Games mascot – and a torch with the sudden realisation that all this will soon be gone. Later a waving Phryge travelled down the flat waters on a barge, accompanied by a five-piece band, to huge cheers.
And on a day that at times resembled a damp day in Dorking, ever-smiling volunteers clad in clear plastic macs, Charlotte Henshaw and Hope Gordon took the top two places in the VL3 sprint, a new event for this games in the Va’a boat. Henshaw – another driven veteran of five Games, another former swimmer – followed up her Tokyo victory to earn her second Paralympic gold, pulling ahead early and leading the race from the front.
Henshaw had been searching for a new challenge after retiring from swimming. She gave canoeing a whirl, tempted, after years of early mornings in the pool, by hearing her teammates say: “We only acknowledge one six in the day and it’s not 6am.” It wasn’t long before giving it a whirl turned into hunting for medals.
“Initially I thought it would be a new skill, but very quickly that athlete mindset took over,” she said. “I struggled with having an elite athlete mindset with not having the ability of an elite athlete so that was an adjustment – but it was quite a quick trajectory and they nurtured me all the way through.”
Silver medallist Gordon moved from the Scottish Highlands to Nottingham to train, to a place where she only knew “Char”.
“She’s been such a pivotal part of my journey,” she said of her friend standing next to her wearing the gold medal. “She’s obviously a phenomenal athlete but an even better friend and I couldn’t be happier to be on the podium with her and whichever way round it was today we wanted those two top spots so badly and I’m just so glad we were able to do it.”
There was another gold in the VL2 sprint, where the defending champion, Emma Wiggs, powered past the younger women in the field to pick up her fourth Paralympic medal at the age of 44 – which was also her race number, something she worried was a “bad omen”. After a rough few years post-Tokyo – the breakdown of the relationship with her coach and a shoulder injury – she was thrilled to “put one in the bag for the team”.
“I’ve done lots of visualisation of crowds and stands and today I looked up and I could see all these red T-shirts and I just knew they were my lot. I could feel this surge of energy from the crowd and I made every stroke for them and put them on the buoys on the last 100 metres and just ticked off family members as I went past.”
There was disappointment for “the queen of the para-canoe”, teammate and friend Jeanette Chippington, while Dave Phillipson won silver in the men’s KL2.
Brahim Guendouz won the first ever African medal in para-canoe, coming first in the KL3 200m final, where Britain’s Rob Oliver finished in sixth in an outrageously close race. On Sunday GB athletes have a chance of five more medals, including Jack Eyers, a former Mr England, who turned down the opportunity to enter Mr World in favour of the life jacket and the paddle.
