Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: Gatien Le Rousseau takes bronze in C4 pursuit after a Franco-French duel

Première médaille paralympique pour Gatien Le Rousseau MAXPPP – Tim Goode

Il battu lors du match pour la 3e place, Kévin Le Cunff, samedi au vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

Gatien Le Rousseau won a bronze medal in the C4 individual pursuit, dominating the other Frenchman Kévin Le Cunff, on Saturday at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome. Le Rousseau, 21, won by more than four seconds ahead of Le Cunff, a para-cycling road specialist, at the end of the 4,000 m pursuit.

The two riders are competing in the C4 category, intended for para-athletes with a tibial amputation, severe leg injury, or mild leg injury. of the 4 limbs and the trunk. Le Rousseau has paralysis of the levators of both feet. Le Cunff, who has two club feet and an atrophied calf, got off to a much better start than his rival. But the 36-year-old runner, who spent time with the professionals on the road with the able-bodied between 2017 and 2021, began to struggle after two kilometers.

First Paralympic medal for Le Rousseau

Le Rousseau continued his effort and did not slow down before taking a large lead. He won his first Paralympic medal, and offered a 13th medal to the French delegation at these Paris Games, a few moments after the bronze obtained by Alexandre Léauté in the 1000m C1-C3 time trial.

The Slovakian Josez Metelka won the final, after the fall of his British opponent Archie Atkinson, who had achieved the world record in qualifying.