Inside the Stade de France, Paralympian #211 Danielle Aitchison won a hard-fought silver in the Women’s 100m T36.
The 23-year-old sprinter from Hamilton recorded a time of 13.43 to finish behind Yiting Shi of China and clinch her second silver medal at Paris 2024 after claiming the same colour medal in the Women’s 200m T36.
A jubilant Aitchison, who has cruised through her first round heat in 13.74 during the morning session today, said: “I just wanted to go out there and have fun no matter the outcome. I wasn’t particularly happy with the 200. Out there I loved the challenge with Yiting Shi next to me, pushing each other along. I’m really happy with how the race went.”
She continued: “It is so special to have my family in the crowd. It is so different from Tokyo. It is so great to have them come over to Paris and celebrate with me and enjoy the experience. I’m really excited to get back into training in a couple of months, I know I can push myself and get that gold medal in LA.”
Aitchison went one better than at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games where she won bronze in the same event. This year at the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships she claimed a silver medal in 13.48 – finishing 0.13 behind Chinese Para sprinter Yiting Shi who set a world record.
Danielle Aitchison played a range of sports during childhood but only discovered Para athletics in her teenage years. Born with Cerebral palsy and a hearing impairment, her talent for sprinting was quickly realised and on her international debut at the Dubai 2019 Para Athletics World Championships she earned a stunning silver medal in the Women’s 200m T36. Danielle went on to claim silver and bronze medals in in the Women’s 200m T36 and Women’s 100m T36, respectively, at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
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