Paralympics 2024: Australia's Madison de Rozario wins marathon ...

It's the final day of competition in Paris for the Australian contingent (all times AEST):

Medallists:

• Para athletics: Women's marathon T54 — Madison de Rozario????

Upcoming events:

Para canoe

• 7:41pm: Women's kayak single 200m KL2 final — Susan Seipel????
• 8:41pm: Men's va'a single 200m VL3 final — Curtis McGrath????

Para powerlifting

• 10pm: Women's over 86kg final — Hani Watson????

Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi has crushed the world record in winning the women's marathon T12 event.

The Moroccan produced a time of two hours, 48 minutes and 36 seconds to slice almost six minutes of the previous T12 world mark.

From an outsider's point of view, it looked like Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner cruised to an effortless win in the women's marathon T54.

The reality was a bit different for the woman who's collected five golds and a silver in Paris.

“I feel more exhausted than ever in my life," she said.

"This marathon is really at the edge for us wheelchair racers, especially the 5km cobblestone section up the hill to the Champs-Elysees. 

“I was really afraid I was going to fall because it was so difficult to keep my balance. 

“I’m super exhausted but extremely happy and I can’t believe that I won this super, super tough marathon."

Debrunner was out on her own from basically the start through to the finish, and she was still processing the emphatic nature of her win.

“Many times I had really big doubts that I could maintain it to the end," she said.

"I really doubted it a lot, but in the end I made it and I don’t really have the words.”

Wajdi Boukhili has claimed victory in the men's marathon T12 event.

The Tunisian posted a time of two hours, 22 minutes and five seconds to break the tape and collect the gold.

Spain's Alberto Suárez Laso (2:24.02) took silver and Moroccan El Amin Chentouf (2:24.35) was the bronze medallist.

Madison de Rozario started these Games as Australia's flagbearer, alongside swimmer Brenden Hall, and finishes with silver in her pet event, the marathon.

She also won bronze in the 5,000m, but she has revealed that it's been a challenging time for her, with her dad passing away on the day of the opening ceremony.

"This week's been a little bit of a blur we've just wanted to get to this point," she told the Nine Network.

"It's put a lot into perspective going into these Games.

"Not being able to defend that marathon would've broken me I think, there was three years that went into that.

"It really throws things into perspective. I'm so much happier with a silver."

de Rozario said her mum was alongside her in Paris, and she's now keen to get home to see her sisters.

The 30-year-old has also taken a different approach to these Games, compared to Tokyo, when she won marathon gold.

"I was able to go into Tokyo with that real performance focus," she said.

"And over the next three years, we built who I am as an athlete, but we put so much focus into who I am as a person.

"And I think going into these ones, it was, 'how do I race as someone who I'm going to be proud of?'"

de Rozario says as she comes towards the latter stages of her career, it's that mindset which is now most important to her.

"You have to start a second life after sport and and I want to be able to do that as someone that I'm really proud of, and I think I've been able to do that these Games."

Hi Angela,

It's a wonderful achievement from de Rozario, thanks for sharing the excitement with us!

Following the excitement of the women's and men's T54 races, we have the athletes in the T12 events still on the marathon course.

In the women's race, Morocco's Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi led the field by five minutes and 31 seconds at the 30km mark.

Tunisia's Wajdi Boukhili held a 40-second lead after 35km in the men's race.

Fresh off her bronze medal in the va'a, Susan Seipel is into the final of the women's kayak single 200m KL2.

It was a top effort from her to win her semifinal to progress to the final which is only an hour away.

Australia's Madison de Rozario is the silver medallist in the women's marathon T54.

USA's Susannah Scaroni gets bronze. 

de Rozario came through 4:23 behind the champion Catherine Debrunner.

The Sydneysider was part of a three-woman chasing pack for the bulk of the race, but with two kilometres left, de Rozario and Scaroni pulled away from China's Zhou Zhaoqian.

And de Rozario lifted another gear on the home stretch to comfortably take the silver medal, with Scaroni a further 16 seconds behind.

There's a spirited conversation between the three medallists, and lots of smiles which is great to see.

It's a huge effort from de Rozario to once again finish on the podium in the marathon.

Debrunner was simply too good, and it's still hard to believe that she medalled in every event from the 100m through to the marathon in Paris for five golds and a silver!

Madison de Rozario is now in outright second, with Susannah Scaroni six seconds behind her.

At the 40km mark they were just over four minutes behind Debrunner, so we should see them racing towards the finish line soon.

Catherine Debrunner has completed an extraordinary Paralympic campaign, with a supreme performance to win the women's marathon T54 with a time of 1:41:50.

The Swiss star led from start to finish and was completely in control as she extended her advantage over the field throughout the entire race.

And she's proven to be the most formidable wheelchair racer in the world right now.

In Paris she's claimed six medals, including five gold, making the podium in all of her events from the 100m through to the marathon.

There are just seven kilometres left in the women's marathon T54 and DeBrunner is still setting a cracking pace - she's 4:07 ahead.

de Rozario will have to fight it out for silver with Scaroni and Zhou.

That trio has stuck together for the bulk of the race, and it will be tough for one of them to miss the podium.

The leaders in the women's marathon T54 have completed 30km, and yes it's a broken record at this point, but Catherine Debrunner remains in the gold medal position.

The Swiss superstar is now 12km away from her fifth gold of these Games, it seems very unlikely that anyone will catch her at this point.

Australia's Madison de Rozario is still in medal contention though, she's with Susannah Scaroni and Zhou Zhaoqian, 3:12 behind Debrunner.

Marcel Hug produces another dominant performance to win the men's marathon T54 in Paris.

Hug held a 10-second lead at the midway point of the race, before extending his advantage in the second half.

He stopped the clock in 1:27.39, finishing outside of Australian Kurt Fearnley's Paralympic record (1:23.17).

The Swiss has now won three consecutive gold medals in the men's marathon T54.

He also has seven Paralympic golds in total across his amazing career.

The silver went to China's Jin Hua (1:31.19), while Japan's Tomoki Suzuki (1:31.23) claimed bronze.

Hi Mk,

Tokyo men's marathon T12 silver medallist Jaryd Clifford opted not to compete in the event in Paris.

He only competed in the 1500m and 5000m - missing out on medals in both in tough circumstances.

There's no change in the standings at the 25km mark in the women's marathon T54.

Once again, Catherine Debrunner has moved further ahead, she's 2:29 in front.

And it's the same trio in pursuit - de Rozario, Scaroni, and Zhou.

With less than 10km left in the men's marathon T54, Switzerland's Marcel Hug remained on target to win his third straight Paralympic gold in the event.

Hug established a lead of two minutes and 56 seconds over Japan's Tomoki Suzuki and China's Jin Hua at the 35km mark.

Ok so we're halfway through the women's marathon, and Catherine Debrunner is looking so good at the moment, here's hoping Madi de Rozario can pull out something special!

How's everyone feeling out there? This is my current mood:

They sure are Di, we've been treated to so much brilliant action over the past couple of weeks and the marathons are such a great way to kick off the final day.

Swiss superstar Catherine Debrunner is showing no signs of slowing down in the women's marathon T54.

At every checkpoint, her lead is increasing, at the halfway mark it's a 2:01 advantage.

The good news is Aussie defending champ Madison de Rozario is still in that group of three chasing, alongside Susannah Scaroni and Zhou Zhaoqian.

And that trio is well ahead of the rest of the field, so it seems the medals will be decided amongst that quartet.