The medal hunt begins | August 27, 2024
Switzerland is thinking about the medal. The delegation wants to be as successful in Paris as it was in Tokyo. The strong athletics team, as well as the paracycling teams and the swimming delegation, can count on their chances, according to Olivia Stoffel, head of elite sport at PluSport.
The Swiss Paracycling Team poses in Paris.Photo: Keystone
The Swiss delegation wants to be as successful at the Paralympics in Paris as it was in Tokyo. Thanks to the strong athletics team – but also others such as the para-cycling and swimming delegation – they are aiming for medals.
The Gare de Lyon in the centre of Paris is once again bustling with activity these days. A good two weeks after the Olympic Games ended with a spectacular closing ceremony at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, athletes from all over the world are travelling to the French capital to be part of the 17th Paralympic Games.
Although this year marks the third time Paris has hosted the Olympic Games after 1900 and 1924, it is a premiere for the most prestigious sporting event for para-athletes, which was first held in Rome in 1960.
Swiss Paralympic will have 27 athletes on site, more than at any time since 2008 in Beijing, when the delegation included 28 participants. The first to take part will be the two badminton players Ilaria Renggli and Cynthia Mathez. The 24-year-old Renggli from Aargau is one of nine athletes in the Swiss team who will be able to show off her skills on the Paralympic stage for the first time. Her 38-year-old doubles partner made her debut in Tokyo and managed to finish fourth with Karin Suter-Erath, who subsequently retired.
The two dream of a medal, but to do so they are the only European duo to have to beat three Asian duos. “It’s a challenging draw, but a medal is not impossible,” says sports director Andreas Heiniger. The chances are less good in the individual competition. Mathez (WH1) and Renggli (WH2) will face the respective world number 1 in their categories, among others.
Successful quartet
Switzerland’s chances of winning a medal in athletics are significantly better. Marcel Hug, Manuela Schär, Catherine Debrunner and Elena Kratter are a quartet that won 12 of the 14 Swiss medals in Japan. Swiss Paralympics is setting its goals for these games based on the results of three years ago. Accordingly, hopes are high that the athletes will expand their medal collections in Paris.
Olivia Stoffel, head of elite sport at PluSport, is expecting medal chances at the Paralympics in Paris. Photos: swissparalympic.ch
“It’s no secret that we have big ambitions in athletics,” says Heiniger, without wanting to commit to a specific number of medals. The fact that the successful quartet from Tokyo will also be competing in the Stade de France gives him confidence that they can build on these successes.
World Cup-tested trio
Another sport in which Swiss Paralympic is expecting a medal chance is para-cycling. Unlike in Tokyo in 2021, this time Switzerland will not only be competing in handbikes, but also in racing bikes and tricycles. And with Flurina Rigling, Franziska Matile-Dörig and Celine van Till, the seven-person cycling squad includes three athletes who have already won several World Championship medals in their competition classes.
Even though at the Paralympics some starting classes are combined and the competition is correspondingly stronger, Olivia Stoffel, head of elite sport at PluSport, has high hopes for the cycling team: “We’re sure we’ll win a medal,” says the deputy chef de mission. “At least one.”
Debutant duo
A total of no fewer than 549 sets of medals will be awarded at the Paralympics between August 29 and September 8. Swiss Paralympics is represented in nine of the 22 sports, with Heiniger and Stoffel also seeing potential for a place in the top three in swimming. Nora Meister won bronze in the 400-meter crawl three years ago, but 20-year-old Leo McCrea, the youngest in the delegation, is also aiming for a medal in the 100-meter breaststroke. In Tokyo, he finished fifth.
The Swiss delegation for the Paralympics in Paris.
And then there are two athletes in the Swiss team, Carmen Brussig and Claire Ghiringhelli, who will ensure that Switzerland is represented in two sports at the Paralympics for the first time. Judoka Brussig won a complete set of Paralympic medals for Germany before she changed nationality, and rower Ghiringhelli, who lives in the south of Paris, knows the facility in Vaire-sur-Marne very well. Heiniger and Stoffel also believe that sports shooter Nicole Häusler will pull off an exploit. “Who knows, anything is possible,” says Stoffel. And Heiniger adds: “It would be great if we could equal the Tokyo record. Everything else is a bonus.”
2024-08-27 11:05:45