Paracyclist Luís Costa, born in Aljustrel but residing in Portimão, was ranked 8th in the class H5 time trial, in a race held today at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Luís Costa finished the race in 31 minutes and 3 seconds, 2 minutes and 26 seconds more than the winner, Italian Alessandro Zanardi, former Formula 1 driver, who dominates the international competition in H5.
Second place, at 3 seconds, was the Australian Stuart Tripp. Oscar Sánchez, from the United States of America, closed the podium, 15 seconds behind the winner.
Luís Costa's result was in accordance with his own perspective, who anticipated being one of the least accredited for the time trial, managing, even so, to leave two of the participants behind him.
Telmo Pinão also competed in the time trial, covering the 20 kilometers of the C2 class in 30 minutes and 38 seconds, which earned him the 12th position out of 15 competitors. The Portuguese paracyclist spent 2 minutes and 53 seconds more than the winner, Tristen Chernove, from Canada. The second, at 19 seconds, was the Irishman Colin Lynch, and the third, at 34 seconds, was the Chinese Ghihua Liang.
“The two runners have evolved a lot. I highlight the times they made and that, at this moment, put them much closer to the strongest men. In this type of exercise, Luís Costa used to lose about 4 minutes for the first one and, this time, it was less than two and a half minutes. The same applies to Telmo Pinão. I am very satisfied with this evolution», said the national paracycling coach José Marques.
Luís Costa returns to the competition this Thursday, to compete in the H5 class distance race. It will have 60 kilometers ahead, with the race starting at 17:30 pm (Portuguese time).
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