Stilwell slips into second

Lefteris Pitarakis / the associated press archives Canada�s Michelle Stilwell came up just short in her attempt to repeat as a double gold medallist at the Paralympic Games. (CP)

LONDON — Former Winnipegger Michelle Stilwell was a slip of the hand away from repeating as a double gold medallist at the Paralympic Games.

The wheelchair sprinter from Nanoose Bay, B.C., took silver in the women’s T52 100-metre final Wednesday after winning the 200 metres earlier in the Games.

"Unfortunately, I don’t get to hear O Canada and sing it as loud as I did the other day," Stilwell said. "I gave it everything I have and silver is nothing to be disappointed about."

Hers was one of four silver, but no gold, won by Canadian athletes on Wednesday.

Wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos of Dorval, Que., was second in the T53 800 metres for his second silver at the track.

Benoit Huot of Montreal claimed silver in the S10 400-metre freestyle to complete his set of gold, silver and bronze so far at the pool.

Montreal’s Aurelie Rivard also won silver in the women’s 400 freestyle.

Canada’s cycling team also won its first medal of the Games, with Marie-Claude Molnar of Lemoyne, Que., taking bronze in the women’s C4 road race.

Canada improved to 21 medals in total with four gold, 11 silver and six bronze. The team’s objective in London is a top-eight finish in gold medals.

Canada is tied for 20th and well off the pace of 19 won at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.

Stilwell was the gold medallist in both the 100 and 200 metres in Beijing. She aimed for repeat performances in London. Her T52 classification is for quadriplegic racers.

Her left hand slipped on her opening stroke of the 100. Belgium’s Marieke Vervoort took advantage of the mistake and held the charging Canadian off for gold in a time of 19.69 seconds.

Stilwell followed in 19.80, well off the world record of 18.67 she’d set in Windsor, Ont., in July.

"That wasn’t my best race," she said. "Unfortunately, just not a great start." The 38-year-old had beaten the Belgian to win the 200 metres Saturday. Stilwell dominated her competition after Beijing, but Vervoort was an unknown quantity to her. Vervoort was reclassified from a T54, which has more arm movement, to a T52 in May.

"These are the first races I’ve ever had against Marieke ever," said Stilwell.

"I’ve been asking for a long time for people to step up their game and give me some competition, so there it is. Kudos to her for coming out today and having the race of her life."

Lakatos closed hard, but couldn’t catch Richard Colman of Australia for gold in the men’s T53 800 metres. Colman finished in 1:41.13, ahead of the Canadian in 1:41.24. "This was a little bit of a tactical race, but it was still fairly quick," said Lakatos. "The 800 isn’t my strength. I’ll take a silver any day of the week."

He also won silver in the 400 metres with the 200 still to go Friday. Elsewhere Wednesday, Patrick Anderson of Fergus, Ont., led the men’s basketball team with 16 points and 14 rebounds in a 77-51 quarter-final win over Spain. The Canadians face host Britain in today’s semifinal.

The men’s rugby team fell 64-52 to Australia in their opening game. The women’s goalball team lost 2-1 in a quarter-final to Finland.

— The Canadian Press

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