Michishita Misato of Japan has won the bronze medal in the women’s marathon event in the visual disability category at the Paris Paralympics, the third straight time she will take a medal home from the Games.
Michishita appeared in the event on Sunday, the final day of the Paralympics. As the world record holder, she faced the challenge of winning her second straight gold.
However, Michishita was forced to trail far behind the top group from the start. She persevered and took fourth place, but she was unable to narrow the gap with the top runners.
Her fourth-place time was three hours, four minutes and 23 seconds, which was more than 3.5 minutes slower than her nearest contender.
Michishita ended up winning bronze after the Spanish athlete in third place was disqualified.
Morocco’s Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi won the gold medal with a time of two hours, 48 minutes and 36 seconds, beating Michishita’s previous world record.
The silver medal also went to Morocco, with Meryem En-Nourhi finishing in two hours, 58 minutes and 18 seconds.