Curtis McGrath says he owed it to his wife and six-week-old son to return to Australia with a gold medal after the king of the kayak romped to a third consecutive 200m (KL2) victory.
After golds in Rio and Tokyo, the former soldier delivered on the expectation that he would net a third straight gold in Vaires-sur-Marne on Saturday.
But McGrath’s build-up to the Paralympic Games in Paris was hit with a major disruption in July when wife Rachel gave birth to their first child, Monty.
Monty required open heart surgery on the day he was born and McGrath had to make the agonising decision to leave his wife and newborn son in Australia as he went in pursuit of a third gold.
“That was one of the hardest goodbyes I’ve ever had to do, to come over here for this prep and then into the Games,” McGrath said.
“It has been difficult, but at the same time, putting it all together and producing a result, I’m super stoked.”
While Rachel and Monty weren’t present in the outskirts of the French capital, the 36-year-old, who will also contest the va’a 200m (VL3) on Sunday, still received great backing.
Alongside McGrath’s parents were five of the soldiers who rescued him when he lost both legs after stepping on a landmine in Afghanistan in 2012.
“They’re the ones who carried my stretcher, putting the tourniquets on and literally saving my life,” McGrath said.
“They’re all there and were part of my journey, recovery and in the traumatic moment of that blast they were with me, and they’re still here supporting me.
“I think there were a few sore heads this morning.”
McGrath’s success was followed by a silver for Dylan Littlehales in the 200m kayak (KL3) and a bronze for Susain Seipel in the 200m va’a (VL2).
The result was particularly gratifying for Littlehales, who narrowly missed the podium in Tokyo but surged home to medal in a 12-month period where both his parents have been diagnosed with different types of cancer.
“I had a good feeling I was second, but sometimes you don’t know with lunges,” Littlehales said.
“It’s a bit of a relief, it didn’t kick in until I was on the podium that I’ll be able to call myself a Paralympic medallist.
“It’s been very nice to have them (my family) here and we can go celebrate how far we’ve come over the last few years.
“They’ve had a terrible few years with cancer, so to have them here means the world to us.”
