By John Bombatch
Not only was Jamestown’s Grace Norman the first woman to win a Triathlon gold medal in Paralympics history on Sunday, she now has a bronze medal to take home as well.
Norman, an 18-year-old freshman at Cedarville University, finished third Monday afternoon, Sept. 12 in the women’s T43/44 category 400-meter final in Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic Stadium in a time of 1:01.83.
France’s Marie-Amelie Le Fur won the event in world-record time (59.27) bec0ming the first paratriathlete to break the 1-minute barrier for the event. The previous world mark was set in 2014 by Marlou Van Rhijn of the Netherlands (1:00.78).
Irmgard Bensusan of Germany won the silver medal with a personal-best time of 59.62 seconds.
On Sunday, Norman won the women’s PT4 class of the inaugural women’s Paralympic Games triathlon on Copacabana Beach. She is one of three Team USA athletes to compete in two different sports at the 2016 Paralympic Games.
