Defeated Davies insists he is still world's best

Starting at London 2012, Aled Sion Davies has won three Paralympic golds and 10 world titles

Aled Sion Davies was "gutted" at missing out on gold at a fourth consecutive Paralympics but insists he is still the world's best thrower.

Davies, the F42 world record holder with a throw of 15.60m in May 2024, took the lead in the men's F63 shot put with a third-round effort of 15.10m but had to settle for silver after Kuwait's Faisal Sorour threw 15.31m in round four.

However, the 33-year-old Welshman rejects the notion that Sorour and other rivals are catching him up.

“To be honest, the reality is they're not catching me up. No-one's near my world record," said Davies.

"These guys, they're not as good as me. I wasn't the best man tonight, I was the first one to shake Faisal’s hand but that was a massive underperformance for me and it's back to the drawing board.”

Losing his Olympic title left Davies "trying to look at the positive things".

"I’m not really a silver kind of guy," he said. "I've been lucky enough to be dominating it for such a long time and I don't mind losing.

"What hurts is underperforming and that was it - I wasn't the better man. I warmed up so well, left some huge throws in the warm-up.

"I'm gutted. I just hope I haven't let anyone down because I've worked so hard and there's been so many obstacles, like everyone… There's no excuses, but I'll be back."

Davies was full of praise for the atmosphere at the Stade de France.

“If I take my personal perspective out of it, it's incredible," he said.

"It's great to have crowds back. It's great to see a full house tonight for Para-athletics."

He added: "I'm just devastated that my performance just doesn't do justice where I'm at."