Wheelchair racer Austin Smeenk of Oakville, Ont., has medalled at a second straight Para athletics world championships, taking bronze in the men's 400-metre T34 final on a hot and humid Monday in New Delhi.

Smeenk's time of 49.43 seconds was nearly one second off his 48.50 season best but good enough to keep Ali Radi Arshid of Qatar off the podium by 9-100ths of a second for Canada's first medal in India. Smeenk's personal best is 48.06 and was a world record in June 2024.

Chaiwat Rattana of Thailand captured gold at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in 48.01, followed by Rheed McCracken of Great Britain (48.67).

In 2023, Smeenk earned his first career major championship medal with world 400 bronze in Paris. He also collected silver in the 100.

"Medals are symbolic tokens of significance, to sa

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