31 August 2012

Seven British athletes were in action on the morning session of day one in front of an enthusiastic full stadium.

The British highlight was the bronze medal won by Aled Davies (Anthony Hughes)  in the F42/44 shot to get the team off to a superb start in their Paralympic campaign

Davies become britain’s first athletics medallist of the Games with a 13.78m throw. He said "I didn’t expect a medal but I wanted to be top six as this is my second best event. I wanted to make everyone proud and I’m overwhelmed. The two guys ahead are world record holders."

Three time Paralympic champion Stephen Miller (Ros Miller) could only finish  11th in his F31/32/51 Club throw with a below par 26.70m throw.

Rhys Jones  (Jane Coia) smashed his PB with 24.39 to finish fifth in his T37 heat and qualify for the final.

In the T46 women’s 200m Sally Brown (Philip Tweedie) finished fourth in her heat in a season’s best equalling 27.78 but just missed out on qualifying for the final.

In the women’s T34 100m Hannah Cockcroft (Peter Eriksson) confirmed her position as favourite by winning her heat in a Paralympic record 18.24. Melissa Nicholls (Job King) missed out on the final with a time of 22.41.

Shelly Woods (Peter Eriksson)  finished third in her heat of the T54 women’s 5000m in 13:12.25. She said,

“It was amazing out there, I’ve never experienced anything like it; when they called my name it was immense.

 “There are so many people out there and I guess you can take that different ways, but for me it can only be good because they’re all shouting for me!

 “The aim was to come top three and qualify. It was very tactical and most of the guys were quite cagey, but it’s job done and I’m looking forward to the final."