September 8/08 3:40 am - Paralympic Games

Posted by Editoress on 09/8/08
 

Paralympic Games
Courtesy CSN

Chalifour and Cloutier take seventh place in para-cycling kilo at Paralympic Games

Daniel Chalifour of Lac-des-Écorces, Que., and his guide Alexandre Cloutier of St-Antoine-de-Tilly, Que., finished seventh in the men’s kilo para-cycling final for tandems on Monday at the Paralympic Games at the Laoshan Velodrome.

Anthony Kappes and Barney Storey of Britain broke the world record clocking 1:02.864 for the gold medal averaging 57.266 kilometres an hour. Ben Demery and Shaun Hopkins of Australia were second in 1:03.718 and Kieran Modra and Tyson Lawrence, also of Australia were third in 1:04.053.

The top-six finishers all went under the Paralympic record in the 16-rider field which was a direct final.

Chalifour and Cloutier were seventh in 1:06.371, Brian Cowie of Burnaby, B.C., and his guide Devon Smibert of Calgary were eighth in 1:07.721 and Stéphane Côté of Quebec City and his guide Pierre-Olivier Boily of Roberval, Que., were 13th.

"We’re relatively satisfied with the performance," said Chalifour who joined forces with Cloutier last year. Cloutier is a three-time Paralympic Games medallist. "The top teams in this event specialize solely on the kilo. We had a couple of pursuit races in us from yesterday and in the last lap today we had no juice left."

The 36-year-old Chalifour, who has lost 95 percent of his vision, says the pairs main focus is on the road. "The road course really suits us and we’re confident for that event," he said.

In the men’s individual pursuit, leg-amputee Eric Bourgault of Orford, Que., was fifth in the LC2 category qualifying but needed a top-four to advance to the final. In the LC1 category, arm-amputee Mark Breton of Charlesbourg, Que., was 12th in qualifying and eliminated.