Canada receives medals at IPC World Championship thanks to visually impaired athlete

France Gagne of Quebec City won a silver medal, while Diane Roy of Sherbrooke, Que., raced to a bronze Sunday, on the opening day of the International Paralympic Committee world track and field championships.

Gagne won silver in the men's javelin for visually impaired athletes with a toss of 47.44 metres, despite struggling with a back injury and jet-lag.

"This is a case of I'm happy with the result, but not my throwing," said Gagne. "I only arrived here on Friday because of commitments at home, so I didn't have time to get accustomed to the venue, which is crucial when you're visually impaired.

"And my back continued to bother me enough that I'm still not 100 per cent sure I can do the discus later this week."

Roy won a bronze in the wheelchair 5,000 metres in 13 minutes 41.52 seconds for her first world championship medal. Edith Hunkeler led Switzerland to a 1-2 finish with Sandra Graf taking the silver.

"It was a slow race, but generally I was pleased with my performance," said Roy. "There were some areas where I wasn't fast enough tactically, but I have other races this week so this is a confidence builder."

Eric Flemming of Oshawa, Ont., was ninth in the men's javelin for visually impaired athletes.

Several Canadian athletes moved on to finals: Mark Ledo of Maple, Ont., in the wheelchair 10,000; Brent Lakatos of Dorval, Que., Andre Beaudoin of Montreal and Dean Bergeron of Quebec City, in the wheelchair 400 metres; Dustin Walsh of Coquitlam, B.C., in the men's 400 for visually impaired runners; and Jason Dunkerley of Hamilton in the men's visually impaired 1,500.