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Queensland Paralympians go better in Tokyo

08 Sep 2021

Queensland Paralympians have edged out their medal performance from 2016 bringing home more gold medals from the Tokyo Games.

Matching their feats from the Rio games with eight silver and 11 bronze medals, Queenslanders won an extra three gold medals in Tokyo giving Queensland its most medals ever at a Paralympics.

The Sunshine State’s elite athletes in the pool shone once again racking up 22 of Queensland’s 28 medals with the plenty of debutants enjoying their first Games experience.

Newly minted Paralympians Thomas Gallagher, Benjamin Hance, William Martin, Madeleine McTernan, Keira Stephens and Ruby Storm all found themselves atop the dais after extraordinary performances in the pool.

Queenslanders ensured there was no shortage in the highlights reel as Rowan Crothers stunned in the 50m Freestyle S10, Lakeisha Patterson edged out her rival in the 400m Freestyle S9 and Grant Patterson picked up his first ever Paralympic medals.

At the velodrome, David Nicholas picked up a bronze in the 3000m Individual Pursuit C3 after the Australian Cycling team started with a bang collecting two golds and a silver.

In the Paralympic debut for Va’a (outrigger canoe), Susan Seipel won silver with a strong performance and narrowly missed out on a double, finishing 7th in the Kayak Single 200m KL2.

In the Men’s Va’a and Kayak, it was 10-time World Champion Curtis McGrath who dominated the field picking up gold in both events.

On the penultimate day of the Games, Joel Coughlan and Janine Watson brought home silver and bronze medals in the Men’s Team MT9-10 Table Tennis and Women’s K44 +58kg Taekwondo to cap off Queensland’s Tokyo campaign.

In total, Queensland athletes won nine gold, eight silver and 11 bronze medals at the Tokyo Paralympics.