Swimmer Mark Malyar secured the bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke final at the Paris Paralympic Games on Saturday, marking Israel's third podium finish of the event. This achievement adds to Malyar’s impressive Paralympic career, bringing his total to four medals, including two golds and a bronze from the Tokyo Games, where he also set two world records.
Malyar is the third Israeli athlete to reach the podium in Paris, and the second from the swimming delegation. Before him, taekwondo fighter Asaf Yasur claimed gold on Thursday, followed by Ami Dadaon, who won gold in the 100-meter freestyle on Friday. In the 100-meter backstroke, Malyar finished with a time of 1:07.42 minutes, behind Spain's Íñigo Llopis Sanz (1:05.58) and Japan's Kato Kubota (1:07.03).
Competing in his second Paralympics, Malyar is aiming to replicate the success he experienced in Tokyo three years ago, where he won gold in the 200-meter individual medley with a world record time of 2:29.01 minutes and in the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 4:31.06 minutes, breaking his own world record set two years earlier (4:33.64).
After his victory, Malyar expressed his gratitude: "I want to thank all the soldiers who protect us; it's because of them that we're here. Thanks to them, we can train and compete. The crowd here is incredible, unlike Tokyo where there were no spectators. It feels great to win a medal here. Hearing the crowd cheer for me made me realize the difference between Paris and Tokyo, which felt like just another competition. I know my starts aren’t strong, so my plan was to finish strong. I’m glad it worked."
* Ynet contributed to this article.
