James Turner equals 100m Paralympics record as former soldier seals hat-trick

James Turner is now a double gold medallist after bursting out of the blocks at the Stade de France to equal the Paralympic record with a time of 11.85secs, while Curtis McGrath says he owed it to his wife and six-week-old son to return to Australia with a kayak gold medal.
After golds in Rio and Tokyo, former soldier McGrath romped to a third consecutive 200m (KL2) victory to deliver on the expectation that he would net a third straight gold in Vaires-sur-Marne on Saturday.
But McGrath’s build-up to the Paralympic Games in Paris was hit with a major disruption in July when wife Rachel gave birth to their first child. Their son Monty required open heart surgery on the day he was born and McGrath had to make the agonising decision to leave his wife and newborn son in Australia as he went in pursuit of a third gold.
“That was one of the hardest goodbyes I’ve ever had to do, to come over here for this prep and then into the Games,” McGrath said. “It has been difficult, but at the same time, putting it all together and producing a result, I’m super stoked.”
While Rachel and Monty weren’t present in the outskirts of the French capital, the 36-year-old, who will also contest the va’a 200m (VL3) on Sunday, still received great backing. Alongside McGrath’s parents were five of the soldiers who rescued him when he lost both legs after stepping on a landmine in Afghanistan in 2012.
“They’re the ones who carried my stretcher, putting the tourniquets on and literally saving my life,” McGrath said. “They’re all there and were part of my journey, recovery and in the traumatic moment of that blast they were with me, and they’re still here supporting me. I think there were a few sore heads this morning.”
Turner is meanwhile lauding the influence of coach Iryna Dvoskina after a raceday letter helped him win the 100m Paralympic final (T36) on top of his 400m crown. Australia has won just three gold medals in athletics in Paris, with Turner providing two and long-jumper Vanessa Low adding the third.
“Redemption for me, but also vindication for my coach, Iryna… This is her 72nd major champs medal for Australia since 2003,” Turner said. “She’s so wonderful, she dedicates her whole life to athletics.
“She sent me her usual letter [this morning]. She said that I’ve done all the work, the track will suit me and she said she knows I can do it.”
McGrath’s success was followed by a silver for Dylan Littlehales in the 200m kayak (KL3) and a bronze for Susain Seipel in the 200m va’a (VL2). The result was particularly gratifying for Littlehales, who narrowly missed the podium in Tokyo but surged home to medal in a 12-month period where both his parents have been diagnosed with different types of cancer.
“I had a good feeling I was second, but sometimes you don’t know with lunges,” Littlehales said. “It’s a bit of a relief, it didn’t kick in until I was on the podium that I’ll be able to call myself a Paralympic medallist.
“It’s been very nice to have them (my family) here and we can go celebrate how far we’ve come over the last few years. They’ve had a terrible few years with cancer, so to have them here means the world to us.”
The Dolphins signed off in style in the pool as Col Pearse claimed his first medal of the Games with silver in the S10 men’s 200m individual medley following a tight finish behind reigning Italian world champion Stefano Raimondi.
Rowan Crothers, Alexa Leary, Chloe Osborn and Callum Simpson also took out silver in the 34-point mixed 100m medley. Crothers swam the anchor leg and clawed Australia back into contention from fourth to finish 0.36secs behind eventual winners Italy.