Nouvelles-sport canadien
June 7, 2007
Quebec�s Brent Lakatos breaks three Canadian records at World Series event
PRATTELN, Switzerland � Brent Lakatos of Dorval, Que., broke three Canadian records and earned three medals including a gold on Thursday to highlight Canadian performances at a World Series stop on the wheelchair racing circuit.
Lakatos clocked 15.14 seconds for the victory in the 100-metres in the T53 disability category for paraplegics, he was second in the 200 in 26.90 and second in the 400 in 50.40. All three times were Canadian records, his time in the 400 eclipsing a 14-year-old mark.
��Brent has established himself among top-three racers in the world, in his category,�� said Canadian national coach Jean Laroche. ��This really augurs well for him with the Paralympic Games 14 months away.��
Also in men�s T53, Eric Gauthier of St-Jerome, Que., was fourth in the 200, fifth in the 100 and 11th in the 400.
In women�s T53, Ilana Duff of Saskatoon, a national development team member, broke two national marks. She was second in the 100 in 18.04 seconds, third in the 200 in 32.94 and sixth in the 400 in 1:02.65. Her 100 and 400 times were Canadian records.
Diane Roy of Sherbrooke, Que., was a double winner in the T54 category for paraplegics taking the 400 in a season-best 56.78 and the 5,000 in 3:31.83. She was also third in the 1,500.
��It rained before the 5,000 and that made the track pretty slow,�� said Roy. ��The speed was average. In the 400, I didn�t have a super great start but I accelerated really well. Even though the 400 is not my strongest event I showed I can still race it well.��
In men�s T54, Curtis Thom of Mississauga, Ont., was sixth in the 400 out of 47 entries in a personal best 49.49 while 21-year-old Alexandre Dupont of Montreal, now based in Saskatooon, set personal bests in the 100, 200 and 400.
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