7th September 2012

Gold For Josie Pearson

07 September 2012

In the penultimate morning session in the Olympic stadium, it was a quiet session compared to the previous night successes but the Paralympics GB team did win their tenth gold medal in the stadium.

In the F51/52/53 Discus Throw Josie Pearson (Anthony Hughes), who finished fifth in the 100m and 800m in the last World Championships, showed her refocusing on throws was a good move. She had taken part in the Wheelchair Rugby for GB in Beijing.

She opened with a 6.38m throw and then improved to 6.44m and then 6.58m which gave her a massive 1122 points and waslisted a s world record though she did throw an unratified 6.66m in a smaller competition in May.

She was close to that mark in two of her last three throws, with a 6.51m and 6.57m.

Fellow F51 throwers took the other medals with silver going to Ireland’s Catherine O’Neill with 5.66m.

American Cassie Mitchell in the F52 class threw the furthest with 12.96m but that only gathered her 751 points.

She said, “It’s a disbelief moment and it won’t set in until I get the gold medal at the ceremony. It’s a culmination of years of hard work. Once I got the first three throws out of the way and had a world record, I knew I was in a good position. I still can’t believe it. I know I was throwing consistently in training and consistently breaking the record, so that first throw was a relief and I was able to relax and enjoy it. My coach told me to keep doing what I was doing and I’m absolutely ecstatic. I only started throwing after the Worlds last year and it was a bit of a disappointment, but I’ve always been very determined. I wish I could have done a full lap of honour but a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me. I’m in the best shape of my life thanks to those guys and I’ve found what I’m good at.”

T42 200m champion Richard Whitehead (Liz Yelling/Keith Antoine) moved down to the 100m, arguably his weaker event of the two, but he came through strongly over the last 30 metres to snatch third in a PB 12.97/0.5 and make tonight’s final as seventh fastest.

“It was important to put in a good performance. I just wanted to enjoy it today. The crowd were great again,” he said.

Teenager Kyron Duke (Anthony Hughes) competed well in the F40 Javelin. He got a great start with a 38.64m PB and also bettered his previous PB with his 37.63m fourth round throw but could only fifth in a high quality where world records were set time and again and the first five bettered the old mark and it was won by China’s Zhiming Wang whose 47.95m record throw was 10 metres up on his pre competition best.

Duke said, “That level of competition was just ridiculous, the Chinese are ridiculously good, it’s just insane.

“I felt good and I felt ready – it’s a lifetime best and I can’t really ask more, to PB in London, but I’d have loved a medal, although Rio is probably more my time.”

In the F42 javelin, Scott Moorhouse (Dan Pfaff) had a consistent competition with all six throws over 40m and a season’s best of 45.30m in the fifth round which placed him seventh.

The event was won by Yanlong Fu of China in a world record 52.79m with his very last throw.

The Briton said, “Coming into this I knew I’d need to be close to his PB or near to it to be in with a chance of a medal. I wasn’t the best competitor on the day but I’ll go back to the drawing board with my coach and have a look at a few things.I’m still young and I still have to learn the art. I’m setting PBs in the gym and in training but I need to pull it all together. I’m more consistent this season but it’s the big throws that count.”

T53 100m champion Mickey Bushell (Fred Periac) was back in action in the 200m heats. He wasn’t feeling at his very best and after a fast bend, he faded in the last 50m and he finished a close third in his heat, but his time of 26.73 was a PB and European record but only squeezed him into the final as a fastest loser. He rushed through the mixed zone to prepare for tonight’s final which looks like it could see all the finalists finish within half a second.