After 11 days of competition, the Paralympic Games ended on Sunday, September 8 in the French capital at the closing ceremony where the torch was passed to Los Angeles 2028. A look back at the highlights.
► At the stage of Francehe was expected by his public. French sprinter Timothée Adolphe finished second and won the silver medal in para-athletics, in the 100m in the T11 category, where visually impaired athletes compete. He had also placed second in the 400m in the same category. After these two new Paralympic vice-champion places, Timothée Adolphe continues to inflate his legend as the cursed of the Games. The Frenchman now has three silver medals – he finished 2nd in the 100m with guide Bruno Naprix at the Tokyo Games – and as many cruel disappointments.
► The French men’s foil team beat Italy in the bronze medal match, giving the discipline its first medal at the Paralympic Games. Having started badly, the French team of Ludovic Lemoine, Damien Tokatlian, Yohan Peter and Maxime Valet finally gained the upper hand before winning 45-36, under the Grand Palais.
► It is also at the Grand Palais that the Italian star Baby Vio was surprisingly beaten in the semi-finals. Having won gold in Rio in 2026 and Tokyo in 2021, she finally consoled herself with bronze in foil. Bebe Vio and her ” tifosi » The Italians, who came in large numbers under the glass roof of the Grand Palais, were expecting a new victory. But they were given a cold shower when their protégé was eliminated in the semi-finals, 15-9 by the Chinese Rong Xiao. I am really very happy “, nevertheless reacted the foil fencer, recognizable by her short blonde haircut, with a smile in front of the press after her last won duel. Bebe Vio, one of the stars of parasport, of which she is one of the ambassadors, has an international reputation. This notably led her to be present at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games on July 26. She then also took part in the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games on the Place de la Concorde, as a torchbearer.
► Chinese para-swimmer Yuyan Jiang won the 100m backstroke in the S6 category on Saturday 7 September, earning her seventh gold medal. She will remain the most decorated athlete at the Paris Paralympic Games, men and women combined. I am so proud, the whole Games in Paris were a perfect experience for me. ” she commented after the race. The 19-year-old swimmer, who had her right arm and right leg amputated, won almost every race she took part in at the Paris Games.
► The headliners of these Paris Games held their rank from the first days of competition, allowing the general public to identify international stars. Among them, the Brazilian swimmer Gabrielzinhoimpressively easy in the pool. With three Paralympic titles, the native of the state of Minas Gerais, who suffers from phocomelia and has stumps in his shoulders and atrophied legs, was able to show off his dancing skills on the podium. And he exploded his number of followers on social networks, going from 50,000 at the start of the Games to more than 260,000 after his third gold medal.
► In track cycling, she won the individual pursuit despite not being the favourite, Marie Patouillet36, has erased eight years without a Paralympic gold medal for a French woman. A double blow for the woman who opened the French delegation’s counter with silver in the 500m time trial and for whom these are the last Games.
► Four days before the closing ceremony, France surpassed the number of titles won at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, with the cyclist’s new gold medal Alexandre Leauté. It was followed by a shower of rewards for the French in the discipline. Three days after the end of the track, the cyclists got back in the saddle on Wednesday, September 4 for the road events in Clichy-sous-Bois. Like the triathlon on Monday, the events followed one another at a frantic pace, allowing the Blues of cycling to make a sweep of 11 medals, including four gold on the first day. A major supplier of medals in Paris, French para-cycling ended its hunt for trinkets on Saturday, September 7 with the final events. Para-cycling, the leading French discipline, brought France 28 medals in total, including 10 gold.
► The second week of the Paralympic Games began on Monday, September 2 with the title of the French Alexis Hanquinquant in para-triathlon who logically dominated the PTS4 category (standing category, he has a right leg amputated). French flag bearer Alexis Hanquinquant confirmed his status by winning again three years after Tokyo. His compatriot Jules Ribstein had set the tone by winning in PTS2, the first of four French medals on the Pont Alexandre III. But it was the United States who came out on top, with eight medals, including three titles.
► The French judoka Sandrine Martinet won the silver medal in the -48kg category, beaten by the Kazakh world number 1 Akmaral Nauatbek. Eight years after her last victory in Rio in 2016, Sandrine Martinet, 41, has won a fifth Paralympic medal, her fourth silver. Sandrine Martinet, one of the best-known figures in French parasport, who is visually impaired, had already been Paralympic vice-champion in 2021 in Tokyo, where she was the flag bearer for the French delegation, but also in 2004 in Athens and in 2008 in Beijing. As for the other three, I’m a bit sulking because I could have done better and I had some regrets about the finals, but not about this one. “, explained the physiotherapist who ” gave everything “.
► In para-badminton, Lucas Mazur won the gold medal in singles, the 10th medal for the French clan, after winning the bronze medal earlier in the day in mixed doubles. Above all, Lucas Mazur retains his title acquired in Tokyo in 2021, where para-badminton was making its debut on the competition programme.
► The British Sarah Storey won the 19th Paralympic title of her career in the C4-C5 road race, the last event she competed in at the Paris Paralympic Games. At 46, the para-cyclist born with a malformation of the left hand thus obtained her 30th medal since her debut on the Paralympic scene at the Barcelona Games in 1992. On the 14.2 km course located in Seine-Saint-Denis, near Paris, she dominated her opponents and beat by a handful of seconds the Frenchwoman Heïdi Gaugain, 27 years her junior. She thus leaves the Paris Paralympic Games with a second gold medal, after the one acquired in the time trial. Lady Sarah ” is the most decorated active para-athlete and the third most decorated female athlete in history. She is a star in the United Kingdom, where stamps bearing her image were printed after the London Games.
► The French team of blind football entered Paralympic history by winning gold for the first time against Argentina in a penalty shootout (1-1, 3-2 on penalties) in a heated atmosphere at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Since the discipline entered the Paralympic Games in 2004 in Athens, all the titles had been won by Brazil. At home, France managed to become only the second nation to have its name on the list of winners in six editions. The Blues of blind football offer the 19th gold medal to the French delegation at these Games, the 74th in total, and avoid zero points for the French team sports, which have not managed to reach the podiums of these Games by the way.
Also read2024 Paralympic Medal Table