Central Ohio’s Blake Haxton returns to the Paralympic podium in canoe sprint

PARIS ( WCMH ) — It took a late surge in the final meters to make the podium but Blake Haxton has his second Paralympic medal.

The Upper Arlington native took home bronze in the final of the men’s Va’a single 200-meter VL2 event, narrowly missing second place by two hundredths of a second. Haxton paddled a time of 51.81 seconds while Brazil’s Alex Igor Tofalini edged the American out with a time of 51.78.

Fellow Brazilian Fernando Rufino de Paulo won gold with a Paralympic Games best time of 50.47. Prior to the final, Haxton had recorded the best time of the Paris Games in his semifinal heat earlier in the day when he won his race with a time of 52.69.

“All you can do is go from A to B as fast as you can. I think I did that today, I feel really good about it. I don’t know, I’m sure I’ll come up with somewhere in that 200m I could have found three hundredths of a second but that’s how it goes,” Haxton said in a postrace interview with NBC Sports. “I’m so thrilled to be here. It is nice to finally have gotten to compete.”

The bronze in Paris adds to a silver he won in this event in Tokyo three years earlier. This was Haxton’s third Paralympic appearance. In Rio, he competed in rowing before adding para canoe to his program in Tokyo. This time, he decided to focus solely on para canoe, preparing for the event with workouts on the Scioto River .

“It’s been really special. It’s been a lot of fun. Going from a ten minute race to a 50 second race is a big adjustment,” Haxton said. “It’s been a blast. This event is so exciting. And it’s fun to be a a part of.”

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