Anna Grimaldi has won a Paralympics gold medal. Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Anna Grimaldi has won New Zealand's first gold medal at the Paralympics Games in Paris - and not in her specialist event.
Grimaldi cruised to an easy victory in T47 200-metre final, having time to glimpse at the big screen and smile before crossing the line.
She won in an Oceania record time of 24.72 seconds.
It is Grimaldi's second medal of the Game after she took the bronze in the 100 metres.
However, the Dunedin athlete missed out on a medal in her specialist event, the long jump, on Saturday, finishing fourth.
But she rebounded in spectacular fashion in the 200m, rounding the bend strongly to take the lead and clear out from her rivals.
Grimaldi, who was born without a right hand, was one of the New Zealand team's two flag bearers at the Paris Paralympics opening ceremony.
It was her fourth Paralympics medal overall after gold medals in the long jump in 2016 and 2020.
She was a comfortable victor over American Brittni Mason, while Thailand's Sasirawan Inthachot was third. Grimaldi had also broken the Oceania record when winning her 200m heat on Saturday night in 25.09sec.
The 200m has been considered Grimaldi's third string event, making her gold medal all the more stunning.
It was a surreal turnaround after she missed a medal by only one centimetre in the long jump.
"It has been a strange 48 hours. I try not to prep for the outcome, but I think yesterday was a shock,'' a joyful Grimaldi said.
"It is never out of the realm of possibility to come fourth, last whatever, but it was a shock. More than that it was a shock because of the prep that we had done, how good I had been feeling in myself and my confidence. My long jumping has improved and it was a hard pill to swallow that I am a great long jumper but yesterday I didn't get to show it.
"Part of me was nervous for this (the 200m) because I haven't done many, I didn't know how to run one. We only spoke about tactics five minutes before call room. After the heat I knew if I could hold it together, I could run a really good time but I didn't know that good!
"Everyone thinks there would be a huge amount of disappointment after the long jump, but I think the journey I've been on from Rio to Tokyo where I struggled, just happy to be here happy and healthy that really showed up today and yesterday. It has been really freeing and I ran really freely today."
Her gold medal takes New Zealand's tally in Paris to eight, with four silvers and three bronzes.
