Will Stedman has earned New Zealand’s fourth medal at the Paralympics in Paris winning silver in the men’s 400m T36 final.
Stedman managed to break his own national record in the final with a time of 52.92 behind defending champion James Turner of Australia who ran in a world record time of 51.54.
This medal is Stedman’s fifth Paralympic medal in his career and third successive in this event after he claimed bronzes at both Rio and Tokyo. Stedman was New Zealand’s youngest Para athlete at the Rio Games at just 16 years of age.
Will Stedman stormed home with a personal best time of 52.92 (Source: TVNZ)
“I only got three and a half hours of sleep last night and I was worried about that but as I warmed up, I got a good feeling,” said Stedman.
“I ran a good first half of the race and felt good around the bend and pushed it hard. With 50 metres to go I had nothing in the legs, I was trying to hold on and I almost tripped over a couple of times."
Stedman improved on his national record time in the event which he set earlier this year at the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships. He achieved a time of 53.36 to win that event.
“To run 52.92 - a 0.44 PB is crazy. I knew I could run well today, but I didn’t think that well given the sleep I had. I’m over the moon with that performance.”
“It means a lot to me, especially as a lot of other athletes in the field ran well today. I had to run well to get the silver. This year I’ve improved my 400m PB by quite a bit. It is cool to see the hard work I’ve put in over the past three years pay off.”
Stedman finished fourth in the men’s long jump T36 yesterday with a jump of 5.74m.
The 24-year-old still has one event left to compete in at the Games with the men’s 100m T36 on Saturday.
“I’m really looking forward to the 100m. I’m in really good shape, we’ll give it a go and then see what happens.”
Later on the track, Anna Grimaldi achieved an Oceania record time of 12.20 to finish third and claim the bronze medal in the women's 100m T47 final.
Watch the Paralympics live on TVNZ+ and TVNZ1 from August 29-September 9.
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