Canada’s Greg Stewart wins shot put gold at Paralympics | CBC Sports

Greg Stewart has won gold in the men’s F46 shot put for Canada’s second gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympics.

In his first Games, the 35-year-old from Kamloops, B.C., threw a Paralympic record of 16.75 metres to soar to the top of the podium at Olympic Stadium on Wednesday in Japan.

Stewart finished the first round of throws with his record-setting effort. No one else in the field even came close over five rounds after that, leaving the Canadian in top position.

In fact, Stewart posted each of the top three throws in the competition.

Russian Nikita Prokhorov took silver at 16.29 metres, while American Joshua Cinnamo rounded out the podium with a throw of 15.90 metres.

At seven feet, two inches tall and weighing 350 pounds, Stewart is an imposing figure. He played sitting volleyball for much of his career, winning bronze with Team Canada at the Parapan Am Games in 2007 and 2011.

PARALYMPIC CHAMPION 🥇<br><br>In his first-ever <a href=”https://twitter.com/Paralympics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Paralympics</a>, 7-foot-2 athlete Greg Stewart from Kamloops, B.C. is a Paralympic record holder and champion in men’s F46 shot put<a href=”https://t.co/CVWQLcJC8F”>https://t.co/CVWQLcJC8F</a> <a href=”https://t.co/1jiPgU1H1W”>pic.twitter.com/1jiPgU1H1W</a>

—@cbcsports

However, he was never able to reach the Paralympics in the sport, and took up shot put in 2016 as a new avenue of reaching the Games.

“I’m definitely more committed than before,” Stewart said in 2018. “[It would] mean almost everything just to represent myself. And I’d be extremely grateful to represent the country. We as Canadians, we are good people. To represent a country that is loving, caring and connected, I’m very humbled by it.”

He quickly took to the sport which, as an individual competitor, he says was a refreshing change of pace.

Stewart took silver in his only prior major international meet when he threw 16.30 metres at the 2019 world championships in Dubai.

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