Competing in her first Commonwealth Games, Yukoner Jessica Frotten took part in the women’s T54 classification 1,500-metre track wheelchair race early this morning in Gold Coast, Australia.

The para-athlete from Whitehorse, now residing in Saskatchewan, did not finish the eight-competitor final.

Fellow Canadian Diane Roy placed third for the bronze medal.

Madison de Rozario and Angela Ballard from Australia took the gold and silver medals respectively.

Frotten is also scheduled to compete in the women’s T54 marathon race on Sunday for her final event of the competition.

At the 2015 Parapan Am Games in Toronto, Frotten had success in the short track distances winning bronze in both the 100 and 400-metre races.

But at these Commonwealth Games, these distances are not offered for the T53 or T54 wheelchair classifications that Frotten competes in for athletes with spinal cord injuries.

Frotten suffered a severe spinal cord injury in 2009 following a car accident on the Alaska Highway.

She took up the sport of wheelchair racing in 2013 and had the dream of representing Canada at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil, but wasn’t named to the squad.

The 29-year-old is now representing Canada on the international stage and gearing up for the long-distance marathon race.

The Gold Coast Games are running from April 4 to April 15 and Canada is currently sitting third in the medal table with 44 – eight gold, 21 silver and 15 bronze.

The host Australian team is currently in the lead with 50 gold medals, 38 silver and 42 bronze.

England sits in second with 24 gold, 29 silver and 21 bronze medals.