William Stedman of Team New Zealand competes in the Men's Long Jump - T36 Final at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games. Photo: Getty Images
New Zealand athlete William Stedman finished fourth T36 long jump, just 2cm short for a medal place at the Paris Paralympics.
In a field of nine loaded with experience in the T36 class Stedman, who won silver in Tokyo, went agonisingly close to a medal.
His first attempt was a no jump, while his third attempt was his best with a distance of 5.74m.
Evgenii Torsunov (Neutral Paralympic Athlete) won gold with a new Paralympic record of 5.83m followed by Aser Mateu Almeida Ramos s from Brazil winning silver and Oleksandr Lytvynenko form Ukraine winning the bronze medal, both recording 5.76m.
"Obviously tough coming 4th by two centimetres and that is not what I came here to do but I gave it my all out there," Stedman said afterwards.
"After the first no jump I had to take one to get back into it, and then went hard for the last four jumps. I'm really happy with how I conducted myself, I gave it my all and mentally stayed present. I'm really happy with how I did that.
"I knew this competition was going to be tight as this class is really competitive especially in the long jump and that showed today. It is cool to be part of it and I was not far away. The last few jumps my legs felt a bit tired, but that is sport."
Stedman was born with cerebral palsy.
Matthew Britz of New Zealand competes against Chalermpong of Thailand in the MS7 men's singles table tennis at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games. Photo: Fiona Goodall
Meanwhile Paralympic debutant Matt Britz made New Zealand Paralympic history as the first Kiwi representative in table tennis for 48 years - playing his round of 16 match in the Men's Singles Class 7 event at South Paris Arena.
His opponent, Charlermpong Punpoo of Thailand, ranked 5th in the world showed his experience to take the match 3-2, however Britz pushed the 43-year-old and took the match to a thrilling five games.
"I knew what I had to do, I've played against this player before and his is a tough guy. I have struggled against him in the past but with the result that I got I am pretty happy with that," Britz said.
Britz has Bailey-Bloch congenital myopathy, resulting in impaired muscle power, leg length difference and short stature.
On day six, Jesse Reynolds, Cameron Leslie and Lili-Fox Mason compete in the pool, while Anna Steven, Anna Grimaldi and Stedman are in action at the athletics.
