There was silver success for Jonathan Broom Edwards (coach: Fuzz Caan) in the T44 high jump as he took on long term rival Poland’s Maciej Lepiato who produced another enjoyable duel into the late evening.
As has been the trend at recent championships, their rivalry always brings a quality competition and the Briton led until his first foul at 2.07m. He cleared on his second attempt and followed the same pattern at 2.10m. However, three fouls at 2.13m drew an end to his series but he had secured his first Paralympic medal.
Broom-Edwards reflected: “It means a lot to me. This has been such an experience – it’s unlike anything else in my life. I’ve had a lot of fun; it would have been nice to go higher because I know it is within me but I’m still relatively new to this so for the next one I will aim to just tighten it up a bit.
On rivalry with Maciej Lepiato who set a world record, he said: “It’s carrying the sport forward. If I keep pushing him to get higher, maybe soon I’ll be pushing him to make mistakes. As long as I can limit the amount of mistakes I make, I will challenge him more.”
After competing in the sprints four years ago in London, it has been quite a transition for Sam Ruddock (Jim Edwards) who finished sixth in the F35 shot put. After winning a maiden European medal in June, the Loughborough-based athlete came to the Games with confidence and finished the competition with a best of 12.70m.
A frustrated Ruddock spoke afterwards: “I’m thoroughly disappointed because I don’t know what more I could have given. I tried to find something extra – I had it in me but I tried too hard. It was there but I didn’t let it come out naturally. I don’t know whether it was the occasion or the pressure I put on myself. I had that amazing win out in Grosseto at the Europeans but I know the quality was high today – they were throwing 14-15m. I will catch them eventually but it wasn’t going to be tonight.”
David Weir (Jenny Archer) returned to the track after his 400m final this morning and progressed in fine style in the T54 1500m, taking second place in heat two, recording a time of 3:06.28. After earlier stating his disappointment with his speed during the shorter discipline, the ‘Weir-Wolf’ looked in comfortable form as he confirmed his place in the race for the medals on Tuesday night.
Weir commented: “It felt really good, I couldn’t do much more. I shouted at Rawat (Tana) when I went past him to urge him on a bit more. They’re good lads the Thai’s, they work hard and train hard but in the end I’m glad I got through after this morning (fifth in the 400m final). Now I can go home and get a good night sleep and relax because I don’t have to get up super early. I was up at 5.30am, so I haven’t really slept today.”
On whether it was hard to pick himself up after this morning’s 400m final, he added: “Not really – I’m comfortable when it’s the 1500m. I’ll just get ready for the final now, rest up as I’ve got nearly 24 hours now.”
Libby Clegg (Joe McDonnell) and guide runner Chris Clarke continued to impress as they made it two wins in a day to go into tomorrow’s T11 200m final. After setting the world record in London during July, the duo have gone from strength-to-strength, winning the Paralympic title over 100m earlier in the week. In the semi-finals they posted a time of 25.24 (+0.3) to win their race.
Opening up her Paralympic campaign was Jade Jones (Ian Thompson/Tanni Grey-Thompson) in the T54 1500m, however in a highly competitive field, she was edged into eighth place with a time of 3:32.88 so did not advance to the final.
ParalympicsGB Athletics medal tally: (17)
Gold (8):
Libby Clegg & Chris Clarke – T11 100m
Aled Davies – F42 Shot Put
Sophie Hahn – T38 100m
Georgie Hermitage – T37 100m
Jonnie Peacock – T44 100m
Hannah Cockroft – T34 100m
Richard Whitehead – T42 200m
Jo Butterfield – T51 club throw
Silver (4):
Kare Adenegan – T34 100m
Jonathan Broom-Edwards – T44 High Jump
Toby Gold – T33 100m
Stef Reid – T44 long jump
Bronze (5):
Kadeena Cox – T38 100m
Gemma Prescott – F32 club throw
Sabrina Fortune – F20 shot put
Andrew Small – T33 100m
David Henson – T42 200m
