OTTAWA – It was one of the most heartbreaking moments of the 2024 Paralympic Games. Ottawa runner Bianca Borgella, a medal favourite in the women’s T13 100-m sprint for the visually impaired, appeared primed to make her biggest impact yet in Paris before a sellout crowd of 80,000 people in the Stade de France.
What we didn’t know at the time was that the 21-year-old had been battling a hamstring injury all season and it started to hurt again after her run in the morning preliminaries. The stress level was at its zenith for Borgella but like all great athletes she was not going to back down.
In the final, Borgella pulled up at around the 30-metre mark, grabbed at her left leg, and fell down. After a few seconds she bravely got back up to the cheers of the fans and reached the finish line. But that was the end of her Games. There would be no repeat of her double medal performance from the 2023 world championships.
She would be diagnosed with a grade 3 muscle tear and in no condition to compete in the 200 and the relay later in the week. “In the final I got out a lot harder than when I did in the semis,’’ Borgella, a neuroscience student at the University of Ottawa, told Ottawa Sports Pages. “That was a little risky on my part, but I really wanted that medal.’’
Needless to say, the following days were difficult but with support from her family and friends Borgella realized her career is just beginning. ‘’I can’t give up,’’ she said. ‘’I’m still young. We’re going to really focus on the basics of running, until I run like a proper sprinter, and once those skills are attained, I’ll be able to be even faster and stronger.”