Paralympics 2024: Australia’s Rheed McCracken wins bronze in men’s 800m T34 final, James Turner chasing second gold in Paris

Australia’s Darren Hicks moved up a few places during the second lap of his C1-3 road race.

But the gap between him and the leading pack widened.

Hicks crossed the 28.4km mark in tenth with a time of 42:20.

The same four riders, France’s Thomas Peyroton-Dartet and Alexandre Leaute, Great Britain’s Finlay Graham and Canada’s Alexandre Hayward, remain at the front.

They finished the first lap with a time of 40:43.

Australia’s other representative in the event, Allan Gordon, crossed 22nd at 45:38.

That is a MASSIVE effort from Rheed McCracken!

He has claimed bronze in the men’s 800m T34 final.

McCracken played that race to perfection, he just hung behind gold medallist Austin Smeenk for the bulk of the race, then on the home straight he was overtaken by Chaiwat Rattana, but held of Wang Yang by 0.01 of a second to win the bronze.

Rheed McCracken is just about to race in his 800m final.

He won bronze in this event in Rio 2016, and was sixth in Tokyo.

After just missing the medals in his favoured 100m in Paris, he’ll be wanting his best effort here.

Australia’s Amanda Reid has finished her first lap of the women’s C1-3 road race in 13th position, with a time of 26:56.

That’s almost three minutes off the lead group.

Six riders passed the 14.2km mark with a time of 23:59.

Patterns are emerging in the men’s C1-3 road race.

A group of four riders – two from France, one from Great Britain and one from Canada – have distinguished themselves from the rest of the pack.

Australia’s Darren Hicks was 13th after the first lap and still looks to be a prominent member of the chase group.

Australia’s Darren Hicks has made a strong start to his C1-3 road race.

He completed the first lap with a time of 20:48, just 17 seconds behind the leading pack.

Australia’s other athlete in the event, Allan Gordon, is a bit further back, crossing the 14.2km mark at 22:00.

Australia will have two representatives in the women’s 200m individual medley SM10 final with Jasmine Greenwood and Keira Stephens advancing from the heats.

Greenwood was sixth fastest in qualifying, posting a time of 2:36.59 in finishing third in the opening heat.

Stephens was fourth in the second heat, swimming 2:39.06 to snare the eighth and final berth in the medal race.

The final will be held at 1:38am (AEST).

A lot of the riders involved in these road races will have a pretty good understanding of today’s course.

Many of them were involved in the time trials a couple days ago, and for those that weren’t, the sheer amount of class specific races would have provided a lot of insight into what to expect.

Each lap is 14.2km, with the women racing four laps and the men five.

There are two notable rises in each lap.

We’ll keep you updated with how today’s riders navigate the course.

400m champion James Turner will be back on the track tonight in the men’s 100m T36 final at 6:53pm AEST.

He won silver in this event in Tokyo and is still on a high after his breathtaking world record run to win gold earlier in the meet.

Rheed McCracken is a sprint specialist, so have to produce something special to medal in the men’s 800m T34 final, that’s at 6:11pm.

Australia’s 500m time trial gold medallist, Amanda Reid, is off and away in the women’s C1-3 road race.

Germany’s Maike Hausberger begins this race as a strong favourite.

She’s fresh off a win in the individual time trial.

A great swim from Col Pearse as he triumphs in the opening heat of the men’s 200m individual medley SM10 event.

Pearse built up a considerable lead over the first two laps, before closing out the win in a time of 2:16.19.

He is the fastest qualifier for the final, which will be held 1:30am (AEST).

Unfortunately for Australia, Pearse’s teammate Alex Saffy didn’t qualify for the final.

He was fourth in the first heat with a time 2:20.22, missing the final by one spot.

Australia’s Darren Hicks and Allan Gordon are underway in the men’s C1-3 road race.

The weather is looking pretty good, if a little overcast.

This is a multiclass event. C1 riders have the highest level of impairment and C3 the lowest.

Only one set of medals will be handed out across the classes.

Here’s to hoping it’s another golden Parisian morning for our Aussie athletes.

First up, we’ve got Amanda Reid, Darren Hicks and Allan Gordon, who will all be jostling for road race glory at 5:30pm AEST.

The already gold-medalled James Turner, as well as wheelchair racer Rheed McCracken, will be pushing for the podium at the Stade de France, and Paralympic legend Curtis McGrath will be up in the para canoe.

Lisa Martin, Stella Barton and Bridget Murphy will be performing for gold in the equestrian, and our table tennis stars Lina Lei and Lin Ma will be begin their semifinals at 7 and 8pm AEST.

Ben Wright will be on the hunt for para powerlifting gold at 9:35pm.

It’s the final day of the para swimming program in Paris and we have Australians in action during the heats session:

• 5:30pm: Men’s 200m individual medley SM10 heats — Col Pearse and Alex Saffy
• 5:40pm: Women’s 200m individual medley SM10 — Jasmine Greenwood and Keira Stephens
• 7:04pm: Men’s 200m freestyle S3 heats — Grant Patterson

The Para cycling programme wraps up today with a bumper set of road races.

Three Aussie’s will be racing for gold, all of whom get into the action straight away.

In the men’s C1-3 road race, Gordon Allan and Darren Hicks will be wearing the green and gold.

They’ll be getting underway at 5:30pm AEST.

Both of them have already won medals in Paris.

Allan took bronze in the mixed team sprint at the velodrome and Hicks did the same in the C2 time trial.

Hicks, particularly, is one to watch today.

He snared road race silver at last year’s world championships.

Five minutes later, at 5:35pm AEST, Amanda Reid will begin her women’s C1-3 road race.

She also has already tasted Parisian glory.

On the track, she successfully defended the 500m time trial gold she won in Tokyo.

Can our Aussie’s pull off something special on the penultimate day of Paralympic action?

Taylor Gosens has had to wait till the penultimate day of competition to finally make her Paralympic debut, and she’ll be up shortly in the Para judo women’s +70kg J2 quarterfinals.

And if the Gosens name sounds familiar, it’s because her dad Gerrard Gosens competed at three Paralympics, two in Para athletics and one in goalball.

Ben Hance and Callum Simpson topped the podium for Australia on another memorable day at the pool.

To look back at all the action from across the Paralympic sports on day nine, have a read of our blog:

Australia added seven medals — including two gold — to its Paris haul on day nine.

Here is how the overall medal tally is looking before competition starts on day 10:

Welcome to the penultimate day of Paralympic action.

It has been a stacked nine days of colour, joy and fiercely fought competition.

Today will be no different.

We’ve got Aussie’s in action at the pool, at the Stade de France and on the road.

There will also be medals handed out in the para canoe, para judo, para table tennis and para equestrian.

What are you most looking forward to today?