Canadian wheelchair racer Cody Fournie has won a Paralympic gold medal.
The 35-year-old from Victoria won the men’s 200 metres in his classification.
Fournie won the wheelchair sprint in a time of 37.64 seconds.
The victory comes in Fournie’s first-ever race at a Paralympic Games.
WATCH l Fournie wins Paralympic gold:
Victoria’s Cody Fournie won gold in the men’s 200-metres T51 final to claim Canada’s second gold medal of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
“It’s not a bad start at all. It’s been a lot of hard work. My coach and I have put in a lot of effort and time,” Fournie said. “The 200 has always been the most difficult for me so it’s something we’ve worked on the hardest.
“I executed [the race] perfectly.”
Fournie produced Canada’s second gold medal in Paris after Nicholas Bennett’s swimming gold.
Toni Piispanen of Finland took silver and Belgium’s Peter Genyn the bronze.
Fournie previously played for Canada’s wheelchair rugby before switching to track and field.
“During Covid I was in a transition period and not really knowing what I was going to do,” he said.
“I didn’t know how much longer rugby was going to go for me. I just ran into someone and they directed me to [coach] Geoff [Harris] and everything else is history.”