Danielle Aitchison flies for Paralympic Silver

Danielle Aitchison takes it right to the line to win 200m T36 silver in Paris.

Danielle Aitchison, the 200m T36 world record holder, launched New Zealand’s 2024 Paralympic Athletics campaign, becoming the first Kiwi Paralympian to take on the iconic purple track of the Stade de France in Paris. In search of an upgrade the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Aitchison was hunting the top spot in her favoured event.

Aitchison relaxed through her heat to safely advance to the 200m T36 final. She cruised through the last 50 meters to easily win her heat, setting a new Paralympic record of 28.09 seconds—a result that seemed to surprise Aitchison, considering how much she eased off in the final stretch.

Returning the next day for her final, Aitchison entered the race as one of two favoured athletes alongside Yiting Shi of China. Shi had won the previous two 200m T36 paralympic titles and presented the most significant challenge for Aitchison in Paris.Aitchison was flying out of the blocks and as she came off the bend trailed slightly behind the equally fast starting Shi.The gap maintained the entire way down the home straight with Aitchison flying to claw back the deficit. Shi’s strength over the closing parts of the race was too great for Aitchison to recover the distance and she finished in second. Earning a hard fought and well won silver medal to kick start our medal tally on the track in Paris.

“It was definitely a hard race, I felt strong coming out of the blocks and on the home straight I was neck and neck with Shi, it was a serious race. I was a bit disappointed with the last five metres and got really fatigued. I’m feeling tired I had a late night (after the evening heats) and didn’t get to bed until this morning. I am happy with the time, which was great.”

Aitchison returns on September 4^th and 5^th (NZT) to contest the 100m T36 heats and final! You can catch her final races at the 2024 Paris Paralympics Games live and free on TVNZ+.

Quote courtesy of Paralympics NZ