Canada’s Smeenk, Papaconstantinou race to Para athletics worlds medals | CBC Sports

Canada earned two more medals at the Para athletics world championships on Thursday.

Austin Smeenk scored silver in the men’s T34 100-metre wheelchair race, while Marissa Papaconstantinou rode a personal best to bronze in the women’s T64 100m.

Smeenk, of Oakville, Ont., earned his first career major championship medal earlier at the Paris meet when he took bronze in the 400m.

The 26-year-old impressed once again in the 100m with his time of 15.10 seconds, edging out reigning world champion Walid Ktila by one-one hundredth at the finish line. 

Meanwhile, Toronto’s Papaconstantinou backed up her Paralympic bronze in the 100m with one more in Paris.

The 23-year-old blazed out of the starting blocks, taking an early lead among a stacked field. However, the Netherlands’ Fleur Jong used her long strides to run away with the gold medal in 12.47 seconds, while Spain’s Sara Andres Barrio also passed the Canadian, taking silver at 12.83 seconds.

Papaconstantinou’s time of 12.95 seconds was enough to edge out Dutch runner Kiki Hendriks, who cross in 12.99 seconds.

“It feels good to come back a couple years later after Tokyo and have a similar finish. This time I was at the front of the race, so that was new for me. It felt pretty good to get out really quick,” Papaconstantinou said.

Later Thursday, fellow Canadians Zachary Gingras (T38 400m, 2:47 p.m. ET) and Anthony Bouchard (T52 400m, 3:19 p.m. ET) were scheduled to compete in medal races.

WATCH | Papaconstantinou races to bronze medal:

Toronto’s Marissa Papaconstantinou captures world championship bronze in a photo finish

Toronto’s Marissa Papaconstantinou ran a personal best to claim bronze in the women’s 100 metre T64 race, at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris.

Watch live coverage of the World Para Athletics Championships on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. Coverage from Paris continues Thursday with the Day 5 evening session.