RIO DE JANEIRO — Chinese wheelchair racer Zou Lihong captured her third medal and first individual gold of the Rio Paralympics on Sunday, beating American and Illinois graduate student Tatyana McFadden in a photo finish in the T-54 women’s marathon.
On a course looping along sun-soaked Copacabana Beach, Zou and McFadden spent the race in a lead pack of eight competitors and then sprinted to the finish. The pair finished in identical times of 1 hour, 38 minutes, 44 seconds. But after they crossed the finish line, Zou, ahead by a whisker, raised an arm in victory.
UI graduate student Amanda McGrory, of the United States, was third in 1:38:45.