Just four days ago, after a third place finish in the Utica Boilermarker 15k, Joshua Cassidy said, “Felt good, happy with my performance but some things to work on.” Clearly, the two time Paralympian found the quick fix as he captured gold in the wheelchair 1500m last night at the Haute Performance Nationale meet in Quebec City.
Competing in a field reminiscent of last Thursday’s national final, Cassidy posted his best performance since May 2012, rolling to victory in two minutes 55.98 seconds. It was a tight battle for the victory, with Alexandre Dupont just three tenths of a second behind in second place.
To highlight the quality of the performances Friday night, Cassidy moves to second on the global list, with Dupont right behind him. Even third place finisher Tristan Smytg now ranks fifth in the world.
Friday night’s event marked the culmination of a busy ten days in athletics for Cassidy. It’s included a 10 kilometre race in Atlanta, a 15 kilometre race in New York state and of course his 1500 metre races in both Ontario and Quebec. However, for gentleman who routinely kicks off his racing season with back to back marathons on two different continents, it’s almost certain he still as a little something left in the tank.
