14th March 2022

PARALYMPIC MEDALLISTS KICK START SEASON AT SHARJAH INTERNATIONAL OPEN

Day Three

Nathan Maguire (Ste Hoskins, Kirkby) won a battle with Richard Chiassaro (Jenni Banks) over the 400m, clocking 46.81 to the Harlow athlete’s 48.84, as they bagged first and second place respectively.

Hannah Cockroft (Jenni Banks, Leeds) ended her competition with a 55.81 clocking over 400m, the third fastest time of her career over the distance, to win the race.

In the field, Stephen Miller (Ros Miller, Gateshead) finished third in the F32 club throw, producing a best of 28.33m from his series. His furthest throw came on his final effort.

Day Two

Nathan Maguire impressed as he finished second behind Paralympic champion Marcel Hug (SUI) in the men’s T54 1500m, recording a big PB of 2:57.95 to the Swiss’ 2:57.54. He previous best was 2:59.03, and this was only his second ever clocking under three minutes for the distance.

The Kirkby athlete had earlier won the men’s T54 200m in a time of 25.22 (+1.0).

Elsewhere there was a lifetime best for Eve Walsh-Dann in the mixed 200m race. She crossed the line in a time of 30.28 (+0.5), and improvement of 0.42 seconds.

Day One

Seven-time Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft (coach: Jenni Banks, club: Leeds) opened her 2022 season on Monday at the annual Sharjah International Open meeting in Dubai, a three-day event.

Cockroft began her day in the T34 100m, winning the race with a time of 16.70 (0.7), the sixth time in her career that she has pushed under 17 seconds. Her PB, and the world record, stands at 16.39, the time she achieved in the Paralympic final in Tokyo last August.

The Yorkshire-born athlete returned to the track in the final race of the day in the 800m and produced a solid display, winning once again with a time of 1:52.84.

Also on the track, Paralympic medallist Nathan Maguire (Ste Hoskins, Kirkby) delivered one of the quickest 800m performances of his career as he clocked 1:33.58 for seventh in the race. Taking on six Thai opponents in the contest, the rest of the athletes moved into lanes two and three working together, so the British athlete had to work hard to maintain a good position. Ultimately, he dug in and clocked an impressive time to open his 2022 campaign.

Elsewhere on day one of the three-day meeting, Eve Walsh-Dann (Roger Sexton, North Down) and Kadeena Cox (Joe McDonnell, Sale Harriers Manchester) were in action in the 100m.

The Northern Irish athlete recorded a time of 14.52 (+0.4), while Cox, in her first race since the Paralympic T38 400m final, crossed the line in 14.66.

Results: https://team-thomas.org/