Sebastian Massabie has a gold medal and a world record to his credit after swimming to victory in the 50-m freestyle event at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Massabie won the men鈥檚 50-m freestyle S4 in a world record 35.61 Friday to capture Canada鈥檚 first ever medal in the S4 sport class, a Swimming Canada press release announced Friday afternoon (Sept. 6). Japan鈥檚 Takayuki Suzuki finished second in 36.85, while previous world record holder Ami Omer Dadaon of Israel was third in 37.11. Massabie knocked .64 off Dadaon鈥檚 previous mark, taking an early lead and finishing strong.
鈥淚 feel really, really happy, excited, and proud of myself,鈥� said 19-year-old from Surrey, who trains with head coach Jy Lawrence with the Pacific Sea Wolves in South Surrey.
Lawrence said the swimmer handled the pressure "really well."
鈥淗e came away with what our goal was here,鈥� Lawrence added.
Massabie entered the final seeded first after advancing through his preliminary heat with a Paralympic and Canadian record 36.95. Earlier in the meet, he broke his Canadian records in both heats and finals of the 100 and 200 free, finishing fifth and sixth.
鈥淎t trials he broke all the national records, but they were in the morning, and he really struggled with putting together best times at night,鈥� Lawrence said. 鈥淭hat has been the focus since May, is finding ways to be better at night, still going those best times in the morning but making slight adjustments at night. I鈥檇 say we were successful.鈥�
Massabie is one of 10 Paralympic rookies on this year鈥檚 team. He described his first Games experience as 鈥渞eally wonderful, five stars, really great.鈥�
Earlier this year at the 2024 Paralympic Trials, Massabie 鈥� who has cerebral palsy that affects his left side 鈥� broke six Canadian records in the S4 class: the S4 50m freestyle, S4 100m freestyle, S4 200m freestyle, S4 50m backstroke, SM4 150m individual medley and S4 50m butterfly, setting a new world record in the butterfly with a time of 38.68 seconds.
He further broke the new butterfly record he had just set on July 29 at the Canadian Swimming Championships with a time of 38.02 seconds, having already set a precedent in the preliminaries with 38.48 seconds. During the competition, he also improved upon the national records he had set earlier in the S4 50m freestyle, S4 200m freestyle and SM4 150m individual medley events.
Also in the pool, Surrey swimmer finished fifth in her women's S10 100m backstroke heat, narrowly missing qualifying for the evening's final.
- with files from Tricia Weel
