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Paralympics 2022: bronze for Arthur Bauchet, Ukrainian soldiers honored

The pain will not have got the better of Arthur Bauchet. Despite intense leg pain, the 21-year-old skier found the resources on Thursday March 10 to finish third in the giant slalom event (standing category). He completes a podium dominated by Finland’s Santeri Kiiveri in gold and American Thomas Walsh in silver. A seventh medal for the French delegation in these Paralympic Games in Beijing, which still points to the 4and place in the medal table behind China, Canada and Ukraine, an untouchable trio.

Read also Paralympics 2022: Frenchman Benjamin Daviet wins gold medal in cross-country skiing
  • Arthur Bauchet can still see quadruple

Arthur Bauchet, in the finish area of ​​the giant slalom, on March 10, 2022, in Yanqing.

Already a double Paralympic champion, with his victories in the downhill and super combined, the native of Saint-Tropez went all out on Thursday in the giant slalom to win a third individual medal in these Games. “This medal, it comes from very very very far away. I really went looking for her,” said Arthur Bauchet, pushed in ” [ses] last entrenchments.

As a reminder, the Varois suffers from spastic paraparesis, a disease which causes weakness and muscle pain in the lower limbs. “I’d rather have pain when I’m skiing, when I’m having fun, than sitting lying on my sofa. The pain, I know it. You just have to grit your teeth and it will pass! », proclaims the one who alone won almost half of the total tricolor medals (3 out of 7).

Author of a silver quadruple at only 17 years old for his first Games in Pyeongchang in 2018, Bauchet can hope to repeat the feat. He has one last chance for a medal with the slalom scheduled for Sunday, an event in which he won three world championship titles. “If ever the legs are failing, I will try to take over with the mind. »

Yet fourth in the first run, Hyacinthe Deleplace fell during the second course of the giant slalom in the visually impaired category. One “hole in a faster section” would be the cause of the technical error. “It’s sport, it’s hard but that’s how it is”, he summarized. The race was won by Austrian Johannes Aigner, already a double Olympic champion for his first Games at just 16 years old.

  • Ukrainian athletes do not forget their country

The Paralympic village was the scene of a ceremony in tribute for Ukraine, plagued by fighting against Russian forces. The country has 19 medals and stands at 3and place in the nations ranking. Ukrainian athletes and staff observed a minute’s silence for fallen soldiers, while raising their fists in protest against the Russian invasion. The athletes also carried a banner bearing the message “Peace for all”.

Members of the Ukrainian delegation with the

Crowned in the sprint, Grygorii Vovchynskyi could not contain his tears during the medal ceremony; the Ukrainian biathlete condemned the Russian airstrike on a children’s hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol on Wednesday.

Like the number of medals won by Arthur Bauchet, at only 21 years old, when he has not yet completely finished his second Paralympic Games. It has two gold, four silver and one bronze.

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