Paralympics 2021 LIVE updates Clifford back on track Rollers take on GB Cole eyes gold

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We just saw an interview on Seven featuring Erik Horrie, the Aussie rower who won a third successive Paralympic silver medal yesterday.

Horrie spoke about how his relentless pursuit of a gold medal, after silvers in London and Rio, almost cost him his marriage and prompted him to seek help.

“Everyone goes through up and downs and I certainly learned that being the world champion is great but struggling behind closed doors was something that I was doing, and I was too afraid to put my hand up and say that I was struggling,” he said.

Erik Horrie is greeted by his family, Michelle Brown and kids, Summer and Lewis, after arriving back in Sydney from the Rio Paralympics in 2016.Credit:Janie Barrett

“My family went through a lot with me. I’m very lucky and very honoured that my family stayed with me once I sought help and put my hand up and said that I was struggling and need some help.

“I think that’s something that everyone back home at the moment is really feeling - needing help but worrying that asking for help as a sign of weakness.

“It’s certainly not. It’s something that makes you a better person. I think I’m a better dad. I’m definitely a better teammate and a better partner for putting my hand up to say that I’m struggling and that I need some help.”

Here’s some more from Rheed McCracken, who was speaking to reporters in the mixed zone in Tokyo not long ago.

“I was sweating my ringer out to put it as politely as possible,” he said. “I’ve never been so hot in my life. I’ve never drained sweat out of my helmet before a race. We’ll work on that.”

McCracken said he felt the race went as well as it could have.

“Considering I haven’t been racing since 2019 against these guys, having a straight final was really hard. We didn’t get a chance to get a bit of a warm-up into it,” he said.

“Executed it as best we could. But overall really happy with the fact that the field is getting stronger. There is more athletes coming through. I think the 800 will show that as well.

“I’m really happy for the past three Games I’ve been able to maintain a spot on the podium and get three silvers in that event. There is a little bit of frustration we can’t make that jump out to gold but it is what it is. I’m really proud of the achievement and everything I’ve been able to do.”

It was already a pretty impressive race from Rheed McCracken but Seven’s Matt Carmichael has just revealed something that makes it even more impressive.

Carmichael reported that McCracken had injured (or “popped”) his rib cartilage some weeks ago, and was competing in Tokyo despite a significant pain barrier.

Australia’s Rheed McCracken had to settle for silver.Credit:Getty

A modest McCracken didn’t reference it in his interview, though, and only mentioned it once the cameras were off. When they were on, he reflected upon how he felt to miss out on a Paralympic gold medal yet again, and why he wasn’t too downcast.

“I go into all of them thinking that this is going to be the year. It was no different this year,” he said.

“I gave it everything, so I’m pretty happy with it. Three [medals] in this event, I’ll take that any day for sure.”

Walid Ktila’s time was a personal best.Credit:Getty

McCracken tipped his hat to Tunisia’s Walid Ktila, whose domination of this event at the big meets continued.

“We’ve been able to beat him in other events,” McCracken said.

“We know that it can be done. It’s just whenever we get to these he goes to another level. It’s what you expect I guess - worlds, Paralympics, he seems to just rise when he needs to.”

It’s a silver medal for Rheed McCracken in the men’s 100m T34. The Aussie started well but tailed Tunisia’s Walid Ktila and finished in 15.37 seconds - his best time of the season, but still 0.36 seconds behind Ktila, the reigning Paralympic champion.

Ktila’s time broke his own record set in Rio, bumping McCracken into silver yet again.

The UAE’s Mohamed Al-Hammadi finished in third.

Here’s Tom’s take: “Rheed McCracken (great tattoos by the way) gets second. He got a good start but Tunisia’s Walid Ktila was too good, hitting the line first in 15.01, ahead of the Aussie in 15.37. It’s his fifth Paralympic medal across three Games and yet another silver for Australia. The team has 16 silvers overall and just eight golds. Not the greatest ratio but there’s still seven days of competition remaining to turn that around.”

Morning Paralympic fans. I’m back at the track for another day of action.

Australia’s Rheed McCracken is up at 11.43am in his 100m final (T34) and I’d say based on the rankings he’s looking like a 2nd or 3rd place.

Rheed McCracken at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships.Credit:Getty

The wheelchair athlete has won two silvers and two bronze across London and Rio. Fun fact from his bio on the Paralympics Australia page:

“It was a chance meeting with Channel 7 personality David ‘Kochi’ Koch that propelled Rheed into Paralympic stardom. Seated next to Kochi on a plane, the two struck up a conversation about Paralympic wheelchair racing great Kurt Fearnley, and Kochi, who has known Kurt for years, offered Rheed the opportunity of a lifetime when he challenged him to compete against Kurt in a wheelchair race in Sydney.”

The rest is history.

It’s been a quiet morning so far for Team Australia, and it’s going to be a pretty lean day overall until the Rollers, Australia’s men’s wheelchair basketball team, faces Great Britain at 6.15pm.

But a few events have already taken place - all of them heats.

In the shooting, Natalie Smith missed qualification for the final of the 10m AR standing SH1 event.

At the pool, Timothy Hodge won his heat in the men’s 100m backstroke S9, with Brenden Hall almost three seconds behind in fourth place, while Ellie Cole finished second in her 100m backstroke S9 race.

That brings you fully up to speed.

Australia has eight gold medals, 15 silver and 13 bronze, which puts us eighth in the medal tally at this stage of the Paralympics.

Last night, Madison de Rosario won Australia’s most recent gold - her first at the Paralympics - in the T53 800m final. You can read more about how she was inspired by her coach Louise Sauvage, as well as Isis Holt’s fourth Paralympic silver medal, in Tom Decent’s wrap of the athletics night session here.

Madison de Rozario after winning her 800m race in Tokyo. Credit:Olympic Information Services

Earlier on Sunday, Australian triathlete Lauren Parker came agonisingly close to a gold medal but was beaten in the final metre by American Kendall Gretsch.

The Steelers, Australia’s paralympic rugby team, also lost their bronze medal match against Japan - making this their first Paralympics since 2004 without a podium finish.

Thanks for joining us for another day of action at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. I’m Vince Rugari and I’m here to take you through every big moment as it happens.

My colleague, Tom Decent, is on the ground in Tokyo and will be chiming in throughout as Australia hunts more gold on day 6

We’ll preview the pick of the day’s events from an Aussie perspective in just a moment - but first, we’ll take you through yesterday, in case you missed what went down.

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