Money for medals can help Canadian Paralympians beyond their bank accounts

Austin Smeenk lets out a big smile and pumps his fist.

Smeenk, the two-time Paralympic wheelchair racer, had just learned that Canadian Paralympians would now receive money for each medal won at this summer's Paris Games and beyond.

"That is incredible. … That's amazing. I feel awesome. I feel like that is right and it's incredible how far we've come," Smeenk told CBC Sports.

The money will be used to pay Canadian Paralympians $20,000 for gold medals, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze.

It's the same payout structure provided to Canada's Olympians.

Money for medals has been a long time coming for Paralympians, as they watched their Olympic counterparts and their own competitors get paid for success.

Now, it's in place for the foreseeable future. The effects of the newly added incentive, however, remain to be seen.

"It'll continue to be high performance as normal — with a little bit of a smile in the background that we're working towards the potential monetary incentive as well," Smeenk said.

WATCH | CBC Sports' Myles Dichter discusses Paralympic medal reward program:

For Karolina Wisniewska, the journey to Wednesday's announcement was a long one.

Wisniewska won eight medals between 1998 and 2010 as a Para alpine skier and will serve as co-chef de mission alongside ex-boccia athlete Josh Vander Vies in Paris.

She said when she competed at her first world championships in 1996, she didn't have so much as a jersey to wear on the podium because they were only distributed to Para athletes once every four years.

"I was crying and it's like a full-circle moment because I lived the time where I literally didn't have a uniform, let alone podium performance incentive, and I'm still around to see it all and to be a part of it. So it's pretty cool," she told CBC Sports.

Wisniewska, the 47-year-old from Calgary, recounted "shock, awe and amazement" when she first heard about the endowment.