2024-09-02 15:11:00
Argentine athlete Fernando Vázquez won a new medal for Argentina at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on Monday, finishing third in the T12 long jump. The Cordoba native won the medal in the final jump, with which he recorded a mark of 6.88 meters and beat Malaysian Kar Gee Wong by three centimeters.
After winning the bronze medal in the category for people with reduced vision, Vázquez highlighted the significance of achieving the goal at a time of maximum pressure. “It’s incredible because I achieved it in the last jump. Thank God it happened, I focused on the last jump and said ‘this is it and there is no more’,” explained the Argentine athlete.
The gold medal went to Azerbaijan’s Said Najafzade (7.27 metres), while the silver went to Uzbekistan’s Doniyor Saliev (7.16 metres). With 6.88 metres, Vázquez took the last place on the podium and confirmed his great form, as he is coming off a first-place finish at the Pan American Games and a fourth-place finish at the World Championships in Kobe, Japan.
The Argentine delegation is having a very good participation in these Paralympic Games. Iñaki Basiloff won a historic gold medal in swimming (200-meter medley SM7), while Antonella Ruíz Díaz and Juan Samorano won bronze in shot put (F41) and taekwondo, respectively.