A swimming sensation from St. Albert has claimed a silver medal at the Paralympics.
St. Albert resident Reid Maxwell won the silver medal during the Men’s 400 m freestyle – S8 finals held Sept. 4 at the Paris La Defense Arena during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Maxwell, who just turned 17 two days before the event, finished with a time of 4:23.90, just 0.67 seconds behind first-place finisher Alberto Amodeo of Italy. That time earned him the silver — his first Paralympic medal — and set a new Americas record for the event, beating the record he had set a few hours before during the qualifiers.
Maxwell is the youngest Canadian athlete at the games. He was born without a lower right leg and has Prune Belly Syndrome (near or total absence of abdominal muscles).
Earlier in the Paralympics, Maxwell placed 9th and 10th in the Men’s 100 m backstroke – S8 and Men’s 200 m individual medley – SM8, respectively, meaning he did not advance to the finals.
Maxwell is scheduled to swim in the Men’s 100m freestyle – S8 on Sept. 6 and the Men’s 100 m butterfly – S8 on Sept. 7.
The Gazette has reached out to Maxwell for comment.
Meanwhile, former Legal resident Arinn Young and Team Canada continued their quest for gold in wheelchair basketball this week. Canada beat Germany 71 to 53 in the quarterfinals Sept. 4, and was set to play against the Netherlands on Sept. 6 in the semifinals.
Visit www.paralympic.org/paris-2024 for the latest Paralympic results.