23 March 2017

The final day at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai saw Britain’s field eventers dominate the proceedings with victories for Jonathan Broom-Edwards (coach: Fuzz Caan) and Vanessa Wallace (Alison O’Riordan).

Paralympic T44 high jump silver medallist Broom-Edwards (Fuzz Caan) has started his 2017 season well and managed a 2.05m clearance, albeit below his season best. However, the world silver medallist won the combined F13/20/42/44 high jump convincingly. 

There was delight for Vanessa Wallace (Alison O-Riordan) as she claimed her first victory at a Grand Prix event, winning the F34 Shot Put with a best of 7.06m. It was a competition of consistency for the Enfield & Haringey athlete, as she also threw 7.04m earlier in her series. The Paralympic and European finalist will take confidence from her performances in Dubai and will hope for further improvement in the coming months.

After a win over 400m earlier in the week, Martina Barber (T20) showed her versatility across the events as she leapt a lifetime best of 5.10m to place second in theT12/20/38/42/44 long jump. Elsewhere, Mike Barker (Malcolm Wallace) secured a place on the podium after a 30.34m final throw in the F55/56 Discus secured third position. It was a massive personal best for the Birchfield athlete, adding two metres to his previous best set in Nottingham last year.

Joshua Bain (David Parker) rounded off a day of medallists with third place in the F37 Javelin. The Chelmsford-born athlete produced two fine efforts in round four and five with just one centimetre separating them – his fifth throw of 37.99m was his best of the competition.

Full results from the event can be found at the Team Thomas website: http://www.team-thomas.org/