Japan's Sato Clinches Men's 400-Meter Silver at Paris Paralympics

Paris, Aug. 30 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Tomoki Sato clinched a silver medal in the men's 400 meters in track and field for T52 class wheelchair users on the third day of the Paris Paralympics on Friday.

Sato thus failed to defend the gold medal he won in the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, losing to Belgian rising star Maxime Carabin. "It's extremely frustrating," Sato said after the race. "Maxime performed better than me."

In the 400-meter event at Paris, 61-year-old Tomoya Ito bagged bronze, becoming the oldest Japanese athlete to win a Paralympic medal.

Among other Japanese track and field athletes, Kenya Karasawa won silver in the men's 5,000 meters in the T11 class for vision impairment for the second consecutive Paralympics. Shinya Wada finished fourth.

In swimming, Takayuki Suzuki grabbed 100-meter freestyle silver in the S4 class, his second medal in the Paris Paralympics after the SB3 class 50-meter breaststroke gold. Uchu Tomita won bronze in the men's S11 class 400-meter freestyle event.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]