Alex Perez wins marathon silver, Brazil tied for historic 2016 campaign | Paralympic Games

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Alex Perez finished the 42 km race in 2 hours and 27 minutes, a new South American record. The gold medal went to China’s Zhaoyan Li, who won with a time of 2:25:50, breaking the Paralympic record. Japan’s Tsutomu Nagata, bronze, with a time of 2:29:33, completed the podium.

– We had the intention to do a smart race, start cautiously and try to get close to the front group. I started growing in the middle of the race and started looking for the leader. The strategy worked and they felt a lot, especially in the part where I attacked. Winning the medal makes us make a movie about everything we’ve been through in our careers. Alex Douglas said I’m here to run to cheer my country.

Alex did a consistent test. Even with the bad weather on Saturday in Tokyo, the Brazilian remained close to the front line from the first kilometres. Starting at kilo 30, Zhaoyan isolated Li in advance with Alex as his only pursuer, leaving behind all the other marathon runners.

The Brazilian managed to shorten the distance in the last kilometers, but the victory went to the Chinese. In the last meters of the marathon, already at the Tokyo National Stadium, Alex repeated the Vanderlei Cordero de Lima gesture as he made the small plane before crossing the finish line.

Edenosa Santos is in fourth place

Also on Saturday, Edenosa Santos finished fourth in the women’s T12 marathon, which was contested by visually impaired athletes. She managed to reach 3 hours, 15 minutes and 32 seconds. Gold went to Japanese Misato Michishita, with 3h00min50s. Silver medal by Russia’s Elena Bautova (3h04:16s). Bronze medalist, South Africa’s Lausanne Coetzee (3:11:13). In the same race, Brazilian Edeline Boaventura took seventh place with a time of 3 hours 26 minutes 32 seconds.