- Lauren Parker has now won two gold medals at Paralympics
- Triumphed in H1-4 para-cycling, earlier won para-triathlon
- First Aussie since Eric Russell in 1976 to achieve the feat
- Vanessa Low also snared gold in the T61 long jump
Lauren Parker had every reason to feel elated after becoming the first Aussie since Eric Russell in 1976 to win gold medals in two sports at the same Games – and the gold medal path of compatriot Vanessa Low is equally inspiring.
On Thursday, Parker, 35, won the H1-4 para-cycling road race, finishing four minutes and 11 seconds ahead of reigning Paralympic champion Jennette Jansen on a 28.4km course in the Parisian satellite town of Clichy sous Bois.
It followed a silver in the H1-3 individual time trial and comfortably winning the PTWC1 para-triathlon earlier this week.
Even more impressively, Parker competed with an upset stomach after swallowing water from the River Seine during the swim leg of the para-triathlon.
‘I wasn’t feeling my best,’ Parker said. ‘I was quite nauseous and stuff like that.
‘I chose to push that aside, I had a job to do. I just got it done.
‘It’s hard mentally to do that, but I’ve overcome so much over the years throughout my life.’
Parker first turned her attention to para-triathlons after a 2017 training accident left her with a punctured lung, broken ribs, shoulder blade and pelvis and a damaged spinal cord.
Paralympian Lauren Parker had every reason to feel elated after becoming the first Aussie since Eric Russell in 1976 to win gold medals in two sports at the same Games
On Thursday, Parker, 35, won the H1-4 para-cycling road race, finishing four minutes and 11 seconds ahead of reigning Paralympic champion Jennette Jansen
Parker also comfortably won the PTWC1 para-triathlon earlier this week in emphatic fashion
Fellow Aussie Vanessa Low also snared gold in the athletics, T61 long jump category after producing a world record 5.45m on her first jump of the day
Low also set a new world record in the long jump T63 event in Paris (she is pictured after winning the final)
After now conquering two sports at Olympic level, Parker’s future is unknown as she contemplates ‘what life may bring.’
Fellow Aussie Vanessa Low also snared gold in the athletics, T61 long jump category.
She produced a world record 5.45m on her first jump of the day, with the German-born 34-year-old now boasting two Olympic golds for Australia and one for her country of birth.
‘Oh my god, tears are already coming back again,’ Low said when asked about what winning gold meant for a third time.
‘I think it was massive relief, and my family have been such a major part of this journey.
[‘Our baby] Matteo changed me as a person. I think he made me stronger physically as well as mentally and he really put things in perspective.’
Elsewhere, table tennis star Samuel Von Einem secured a third-straight Paralympic medal for the 29-year-old, who won silvers at Tokyo and Rio.
Von Einem lost his semi-final 3-1 in the men’s singles class 11 to South Korean Kim Gi Tae.
As it stands, Australia sit ninth in the medal tally, with 14 gold, 12 silver and 19 bronze.
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