There was a high level of suspense when Peter Cowan crossed the finish line in the final of the men’s single va’a VL3 200m canoe sprint race in Paris. 

In his Paralympic Games debut, the 29-year-old from Hawke’s Bay flew out of the blocks in the final to battle for the early lead. 

As the contest went on, it looked to be a case of two races for medals; Ukrainian Vladyslav Yepifanov and Jack Eyers of Great Britain contesting the top two spots on the podium, while Cowan, Australian Curtis McGrath and China’s Pu Yi were locked in a race for bronze. 

The eight-strong race was over in about 50sec. It was a further 45sec before Cowan got word that he would be the third man on the podium. 

“It feels unreal,” Cowan told TVNZ of winning a medal in his Paralympics debut. 

In tough, windy conditions, the Kiwi stayed the course and might have been a bit fortunate that McGrath drifted in his lane toward the final stretch of the race, with Cowan crossing the line just 0.06sec ahead of the Australian who beat him in their heat. 

Because Cowan finished second in his heat, he had to qualify for the medal race through the semifinal rather than get direct entry into the medal race. 

Cowan finished second to Eyers in the semifinal to secure his place, and left everything out there in the final; a look of elation – with perhaps a hint of disbelief – on his face when he finally heard that he had claimed the bronze. 

“Coming into the race all I really focused on was the performance itself and not jumping the gun,” Cowan said. 

“There were times this week when I would think about the podium, but me and my coach are pretty grounded in our goals and that’s just to focus on every performance as they come; every breath, every stroke in every race. 

“In the start gate, I was just thinking about what I needed to do to build into that finish line because I never know where I’m coming in the races. I do believe the performance will give the right result at the end of the day, so to find out I made the podium, I was mind-blown.” 

Yepifanov won the race with a Paralympic Games best of 47.49sec, with Eyers second in 47.87sec. Cowan finished in 48.28sec. The three medalists were all first-time Paralympians. 

Cowan’s medal took New Zealand’s haul to nine in Paris, with one gold, four silver and four bronze.