13 June 2016

After a valiant effort, Steve Morris (coach: James Thie) had to settle for fourth place in the T20 800m final despite leading for much of the final lap. The Welshman made his move with 300m to go, opening up a 10m lead on his opponents but in the closing 80m, he was reeled in by the fast finishing field and ended up just outside the medals with a season best of 1:58.09. The race was won by the Russian Alexander Rabotnitskiy in 1:56.89.

Morris spoke afterwards: “I’m gutted to just miss out on the medals. I haven’t done many 800m this year as I’ve been focusing on the 1500m for Rio. There is a lot more to come when I go back to Cardiff to train with my coach.

“I thought I had a good chance to get in the top three. I really went for it but I’ll just tick this off as good training and it was useful to work on my speed. At least I gave it a good go.”

T54 200m champion Richard Chiassaro (Jenni Banks) was back on track looking very comfortable in the 400m semi-finals. He won by a significant margin despite slowing up in the last 50m to record a time of 47.53 and qualify for the final. David Weir (Jenny Archer) similarly progressed to the 400m final also taking it relatively easy on a hot morning in Grosseto with a time of 47.16. Unfortunately, Nathan Maguire (Steven Hoskins) narrowly missed out on the final despite a 49.84 clocking.

After disappointment in the T13 100m final last night, Zac Shaw (Joe McDonnell) advanced the 200m final with a season best of 22.99 (+0.5). He had only run under 23 seconds twice in his career so far and that was in the world championships last year, so it was an encouraging way for the Cleethorpes athlete to bounce back.

Shaw commented: “Especially after yesterday’s disappointment, it’s great to bounce back and make a final like that. It’s great to dip underneath 23 seconds – I’ve only run one 200m so far this season so I am happy with the outcome of that.

“I was really down yesterday but all my teammates were really supportive as were my coaches. They helped me and I have to try and show mental strength. It’s not every day you get the opportunity to compete at a European Championships so I’m just loving the moment.”

T53 200m champion Mo Jomni (Archer) returned to the track to ease his way into the 400m final alongside Paralympic 100m champion Mickey Bushell (Archer). Jomni set a time of 52.39 to win his semi-final whilst Bushell recorded 52.61 for second place, a season best.

Action continues from 15:00 UK time on the IPC website: https://www.paralympic.org/grosseto-2016

British Athletics medal tally at the IPC Athletics European Championships:

Gold:

Richard Chiassaro – T54 200m

Aled Davies – F42 Shot Put

Dan Greaves – F44-46 Discus

Mo Jomni – T53 200m

Maria Lyle – T35 100m

David Weir – T54 5000m

Richard Whitehead – T42 100m

Silver:

Sophie Hahn – T38 200m

Carly Tait – T34 100m and 400m

Isaac Towers – T34 400m

Bronze:

Jonathan Broom-Edwards – T42/44 High Jump

Kadeena Cox – T38 200m

Steve Osborne – T51 100m

Ben Rowlings – T34 400m