Thanasis Konstantinidis and Lazaros Stefanidis made it an unlikely 1-3 in the F32 athletics shot put at the Paris Games, with the former crowned Paralympic gold and the latter bronze.
Indeed, Konstantinidis stepped onto the top step of the podium by setting a new European record and giving Greece its first gold of this year’s Games and its ninth overall (1 gold, 3 silver, 5 bronze). The 54-year-old arrived in Paris with a personal best of 11.60m and his best performance this year of 10.56m. Today in the final he scored 11.17 – 11.57 – 10.94 – 11.92 and 11.93 metres in his latest attempt to break the European record twice!
Lazaros Stefanidis also made a great appearance by throwing 9.84m and winning the bronze medal, behind Konstantinidis and the independent (Russian) Alexei Tsupkin who threw 11.39m.
Third Greek in the final, Dimitris Zisidis threw 8.88m to finish as the 6th Paralympian in the final, also making a great appearance.