Paralympic viewing guide: Lakatos, Rivard can go back-to-back | CBC Sports

Day 8 could be a big one for Canada. The country’s two best Summer Paralympic athletes — swimmer Aurélie Rivard and wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos — are both defending one of their titles, while shot putter Greg Stewart also has a chance to win gold in his event.

Here’s what to watch on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning:

Aurélie Rivard and Brent Lakatos can go back-to-back

Canada’s two biggest stars at these Games are both looking to repeat as Paralympic champion in one of their top events.

Rivard is swimming in the women’s S10 400m freestyle final at 4:30 a.m. ET. The 25-year-old from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., is going for her fourth medal of these Games. She’s already won gold in the 100m freestyle and bronze in both the 50m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay, giving her eight Paralympic medals in her career. Rivard is the world-record holder in this event. She broke it when she won gold in Rio, and again two years later at the Pan Pacific championships in Australia. 

Lakatos is racing in the men’s T53 100m track event. His first-round heat goes at 10 p.m. ET, and the final is at 6:20 a.m. ET. Lakatos has already won silvers in the 400m and 5,000m in Tokyo, giving the 41-year-old from Dorval, Que., nine Paralympic medals in his career. His only gold came in the 100m five years ago in Rio.

WATCH | What you missed on Day 7 in Tokyo:

While You Were Sleeping: Medal No. 13 for Canada, Papaconstantinou returns, big blow for women’s wheelchair basketball team

Zachary Gingras takes bronze in men’s 400m-T3, Marissa Papaconstantinou sets PB but finishes 5th in 200m-T64, Canada’s women’s wheelchair basketball team loses the USA in the quarterfinals. 3:14

Other top Canadians to watch on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning

In chronological order:

Track and field — Greg Stewart in the men’s F46 men’s shot put event at 9:33 p.m. ET: The Paralympic rookie took silver at the most recent world championships, in 2019. Before dedicating himself to throwing, the 7-foot-2 Stewart won three world titles with the Canadian men’s Para standing volleyball team. 

Cycling — Charles Moreau in the men’s H3 road race at 1:20 a.m. ET: Moreau took bronze in this event, which is for hand cyclists, at the 2016 Paralympics and placed fourth at the 2019 world championships. Two other Canadians are in this race: Alex Hyndman, who finished sixth at the 2019 worlds, and Joey Desjardins, who was 11th.

Men’s wheelchair basketball quarter-final — Canada vs. Great Britain at 5:15 a.m. ET: The Canadians rebounded from an 0-3 start to win their last two round-robin games and grab the fourth and final playoff spot from their group. Great Britain won the other group with a 4-1 record. They’re the reigning world champions and they took bronze at the 2016 Paralympics. Last night, the Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team lost its quarter-final 63-48 to the defending champion United States.

See the full schedule of Canadians competing here.

Another interesting athlete to watch 

Markus Rehm in the men’s T64 long jump at 7:25 a.m. ET: Barring some disaster, the 33-year-old German is going to win gold. The question is, by how much? Rehm, who’s known as the “Blade Jumper” for his prosthetic right leg, smashed his own Para world record in June by leaping 8.62 metres — a distance that would have won gold in every Olympic long jump event from 1996 to the present. The men’s gold medallist in Tokyo this summer, Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou, jumped 8.41 in the final. None of the five men Rehm will face has reached inside a metre of his record. 

How to watch live events

A variety of live Day 7 events will be streamed live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBCSports.ca starting at 7 p.m. ET. 

You can also watch Paralympic action on the CBC TV network from 3-5 p.m., 7-8 p.m. and 12:30-2:30 a.m. in your local time. These shows will be streamed on the platforms mentioned above from 2-4 p.m. ET, 6-7 p.m. ET and 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. ET.

See a detailed streaming schedule with links to watch live events here.

More on the Paralympics 

If you’re wondering what T54, S10 and the other letter/number combinations listed with each event mean, read this explainer on impairment classifications. 

For round-the-clock updates from Tokyo, follow CBC Sports reporter Devin Heroux on Twitter.