19 May 2014

There were some outstanding performances over the weekend from para-athletes over the weekend across the UK and in the IPC Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland.

IPC Grand Prix – Nottwil, Switzerland

World records fell at the fifth IPC Grand Prix of the year as Hannah Cockroft (coach: Jenni Banks) broke both the 100m and 200m records clocking 17.31 and 30.86 respectively. The 21 year old remains unbeaten in her professional career adding world records number 25 and 26 to her collection. However, the six-time global medallist was made to work for her victory in the 800m edging out Australian counterpart Rosemary Little by just two-hundredths of a second. Cockroft also added victory number four with a win in the 400m posting 1:03.29 in what was a great weekend for the Coventry University student.

Cockroft’s GB & NI T34 teammate Mel Nicholls (Job King) took nearly a second off the 1500m world record she set in Grosseto last year crossing the line in 4:11.60. The 36 year old also finished third in the 800m and fourth in both the 200m and 400m.  

In one of the most anticipated battles of the weekend, the ‘Swiss Bullet’ Marcel Hug edged out six-time gold medallist David Weir in the 800m, 5000m and 10,000m, with no more than two-hundredths of a second separating the duo in the three races. However, Weir triumphed over Hug in the 400m finishing in second behind T53 wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos, with the Swiss athlete close on Weir’s tail in third.  

Stef Reid (Rana Reider) continued her fine start to the season with victory in the T44 100m (13.90), while there was a personal best for GB & NI veteran Steve Osborne (Banks) in the T51 100m clocking 21.76.

In the men’s T53 100m, only a world record from Brent Lakatos stopped Mickey Bushell (Archer) from avenging his defeat to the Canadian at last year’s IPC World Championships. Bushell’s time of 14.55 is his fastest over the distance in nearly two years.

There were personal bests for Georgina Oliver (Pete Wyman) in the T54 100m (17.16) and Sammi Kinghorn (Ian Mirfin) in the T53 100m (17.91)

Jade Jones (Tanni Grey-Thompson/Ian Thompson) and Shelly Woods (Archer) took third and fourth place in the T54 800m while there were two second place finishes for Amy Wareing in the T38 100m and 200m

For full results, please visit: http://www.rollstuhlsportevents.ch/en/events_2014/2014_parathletics_ipc_athletics_grand_prix/results/

Loughborough International

A day after Margarita Goncharova broke Sophie Hahn’s (Joe McDonnell) T38 world record, the world gold medallist snatched it back clocking an impressive 13.04 to take 0.09 off the Russian’s time clocked at the IPC Grand Prix in Nottwil. Olivia Breen (Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo) finished in second clocking 13.70, while 14 year old Maria Lyle (Henry Gray) broke the T35 100m world record with a time of 14.83

World discus silver medallist threw a best of 58.05 in the discus, while Jonathan Broom-Edwards, who won silver in Lyon on his GB & NI debut cleared 2.06m in the high jump.

Results: http://lia.athletics-uk.org/

Somerset County Athletics Championships, Yeovil

London 2012 bronze medallist Rob Womack (Shaun Pickering) broke the 22 year old F55 discus British record throwing 35.31m to put himself in a strong position in the build-up to the IPC European Championships in Swansea this summer.