August 30, (THEWILL) – Brazilian Paralympian, Petrucio Ferreira dos Santos, has won his third consecutive gold medal in the men’s T47 100m sprint at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
The 27-year-old athlete, who lost his left arm below the elbow at age two, clinched victory in a photo finish at the Stade de France on Friday.
Despite cold and wet conditions, Ferreira recorded a season-best time of 10.68 seconds. He narrowly beat USA’s Korban Best, who took silver with a time of 10.75 seconds, while Morocco’s Aymane El Haddaoui claimed bronze, finishing 0.03 seconds behind Best.
Ferreira, who previously won gold medals at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, likened his latest triumph to “lightning striking for the third time”. The Brazilian sprinter holds the para-world record of 10.29 seconds, set in 2022.
After his victory, Ferreira celebrated with a Brazil flag draped over his shoulders wearing a chapeu de couro, a cowboy-style hat typical of his home region in northeastern Brazil. He shared his plans to dance to forro music, a genre from his native northeast, with fellow Brazilian finalists, Washington Junior and Lucas Sousa Pereira.
The Paris 2024 Paralympics have once again put Ferreira in the spotlight, confirming his status as one of the world’s top para-athletes.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
