Para swimmer Suzuki fights fatigue to win 2nd medal in 2 nights

PARIS — Veteran swimmer Takayuki Suzuki was still feeling a bit tired after bringing Japan its first gold medal at the Paris Paralympic Games the day before. That didn’t stop him from adding a silver to the tally.

“I went into the race knowing what I could do,” said the 37-year-old Suzuki after finishing second in the men’s 100-meter freestyle in the S4 class for people with physical disabilities on Friday.

Suzuki clocked a time of 1 minute and 21.71 seconds, a time very close to his personal best, following up on his victory in the 50m breaststroke SB3 class on Thursday.

In Friday’s race, Suzuki was at the back of the pack when he surfaced after the start, but he moved up to fourth at the 50-meter turn. He appeared to hold back and turned on the jets in the second half of the race.

Suzuki gradually closed the gap to the leaders and took second place just before the finish.

Suzuki had won the event three years ago at the Tokyo Paralympics and was aiming for a repeat, but he was satisfied with the silver medal. “I gave it my all and this is the colour [of medal] “That was the result,” he said.

As he gets older, it becomes harder to recover from fatigue, meaning he can no longer do the same training he did when he was younger. “I trained well under those conditions,” he said.