JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Brothers Kylian Portal (R), bronze medalist, and Alex Portal (L), silver medalist, embrace on the podium during the medal ceremony for the men’s 400m freestyle S13 final at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, at the Arena Paris La Défense, in Nanterre, west of Paris, on August 31, 2024.
PARALYMPICS – An exceptional family photo. Para-athletes in swimming Alex Portal, 22, and his little brother Kylian Portal, 17, both climbed onto the podium in the 400m freestyle at the Paralympic Games in Paris, this Saturday, August 31. The eldest, Alex, finished 2nd while the youngest, Kylian, took bronze.
The two brothers finished behind the big favourite of the race, Belarusian Ihar Boki, gold medallist in this S13 category, reserved for visually impaired athletes. Boki, who is competing under the neutral banner, now has 19 gold medals to his name.
Ihar Boki and Alex Portal were still neck and neck after 300 meters of racing but Boki accelerated to finish with a little margin. The French public could still explode when Alex’s little brother, Kylian, narrowly won the bronze against the Ukrainian Kyrylo Gerashchenko, as you can see below.
Ihar Boki one title away from Frenchwoman Béatrice Hess
Ihar Boki, 30, surpassed Swedish para-shooter Jonas Jacobsson in gold medals on Friday with an 18th title, making him the most decorated male athlete in Paralympic history.
He is now just one title behind French swimmer Beatrice Hess, but still far from the record of American Trischa Zorn (32 titles between 1980 and 2004), also in the pools. He still has the 50-meter freestyle to go on Monday, as well as the 200-meter medley on Tuesday.
Due to international sanctions against Belarus, Russia’s ally in the war against Ukraine, he is listed like his compatriots as “neutral individual athlete”. It is the Paralympic anthem that will resound on the podium.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.fr
