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Nicolas-Guy Turbide wins bronze medal on final night of Paralympic swimming

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By Jim Morris

RIO DE JANEIRO – It was mission accomplished for Nicolas-Guy Turbide.

Turbide won a bronze medal in the S13 100-metre backstroke on Saturday’s final day of swimming at the 2016 Paralympics. His time of 59.55 seconds broke the America’s record he had set in the preliminaries.

“That’s what I was looking for,” said Turbide. “I tried to go for silver.

“I managed to accomplish all the goals I gave myself this year. I can’t ask for a better meet overall.”

Devin Gotell of Antigonish, N.S., also swam in the final, finishing eighth in one minute, 6.62 seconds.

Abi Tripp of Kingston, Ont., was eighth in the S8 200-m individual medley in Canadian record time. Gordie Michie of St. Thomas, Ont., also was eighth in in the S14 200-m IM.

The men’s s 34-point 4×100-m medley relay finished seventh in Canadian record time in the final swim of the meet.

Canadian swimmers won eight medals _ four gold, two silver, two bronze _ in the pool at Rio.

Turbide’s time in the final lowered the record of 59.93 he swam in the morning. His old record of 1:01.31 was set during the Olympic and Para-swimming Trials in April. It also was the first time the visually impaired swimmer from Quebec City swam under one minute.

“Two personal bests in the same day is something I’m always happy for,” said Turbide. “I guess I couldn’t ask for a better race.”

Turbide had to wait for the final day of the Paralympic meet for his best event. He swam a personal best time Wednesday to finish eighth in the S13 50-m freestyle.

“I think the long wait built up anticipation,” he said. “It did help today. I knew it was the last time I would swim for a season after 50 weeks of training.”

Ihar Boki of Belarus won in a world record time of 56.68.

Tripp’s time of 2:55.08 in the final slashed over two seconds off the Canadian record she swam during the preliminaries.

“I cleaned up some little things from this morning,” said the 15-year-old who is competing in her first Paralympics. “I tried to touch up the back part especially and just compete with the other girls and feed off the energy of the crowd.

“I’m very happy with that. It’s one of my favourite races and to be able to compete in the final is quite a treat.”

American Jessica Long won the race in 2:40.23.

Michie was satisfied with his time of 2:18.88.

“Going into the race I had a lot of confidence,” said the 22-year-old. “I was pumped up and motivated.

“The time was pretty good. It wasn’t the best time. I gave it all I had for my last swim of the Paralympic Games. I just have to train twice as hard for next season.”

Marc Evers of the Netherlands won in a Paralympic record 2:10.29.

The relay team of Alec Elliot of Kitchener, Ont., James Leroux of Repentigny, Que., Jean-Michel Lavalliere of Quebec City and Zack McAllister of Lethbridge, Alta., finished in 4:27.78. That lowered the old mark by 1.26 seconds.

“We were all in the zone,” said Lavalliere, who was added onto the team late last month after the International Paralympic Committee banned the Russian Federation.

“We were trying to do the best we could. I think we were feeling it was going well.”

China won in a Paralympic record 4:06.44.

The Para-swim team fell short of it’s goal of winning 14 medals but head coach Craig McCord was still pleased with the overall performance.

McCord pointing to the number of Canadian records and best times posted.

“We went to war,” said McCord, who is stepping down as head coach at the end of the month. “Battles were won and battles were lost.

“They stood proud and they did what they need to do.”

McCord praised the coaching staff and Swimming Canada support personnel for getting the team ready.

“I think this is the best prepared team we ever had at a Paralympic Games,” he said.

“They were an amazing team.”

Aurelie Rivard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., led the charge with three gold medal and a silver medal. She also set two world records, a Paralympic Games record and a Canadian record.

Katarina Roxon of Kippens, NL, won the S8 100-metre breaststroke and set an America’s record while Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., won silver and set a Canadian record in the S7 200-m individual medley.

The most emotion performance might have been Benoit Huot finishing third in the S10 400-metre freestyle in what likely was his last Paralympic race.

“Overall, as a Canadian team, I think they represented themselves very well,” said McCord. “They should be nothing but proud of what they accomplished this week.”
In other results Saturday:

_ Morgan Bird of Calgary finished 10th in the S8 200-m individual medley in 3:07.03 while Sabrina Duchesne of St-augustin, Que., was 14th in 3:17.01.

_ Tyler Mrak of Surrey, B.C., was 11th in the S13 100-m backstroke in 1:11.88.

_ Danial Murphy of Bedford, N.S., was 14th in the S5 100-m freestyle in 1:32.00

_ Tammy Cunnington of Red Deer, Alta., was 11th in the S4 50-m freestyle in 51.97.