01 June 2015

On the seventh leg of the IPC Grand Prix Series, there were some fine displays on the track and field from the British contingent in Nottwil, Switzerland over the weekend.

There were an astounding four British records for Ben Rowlings (Job King) as the Coventry athlete powered to lifetime bests over 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m. The 19 year old posted a four second personal best over 800m finishing in 1:46.50 while he shaved over half a second off in the 400m crossing the line in 54.52. There were also marginal improvements over both sprint distances for the multiple British record holder finishing the 100m and 200m in 16.74 and 29.07 respectively.

Toby Gold (Jenny Archer), who trains in the Weir Archer Academy, set a new European record in the T33 200m racing to a 32.66 finish behind Kuwait’s Almutairi Ahmad N B S with the latter setting a new world record.

Multiple global gold medallist Hannah Cockroft’s (Banks) season continued to go from strength-to-strength winning her battle with Australia’s Rosemary Little over four distances in Nottwil. The 22 year old came out on top in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m to strengthen her claims to another set of world titles in Doha this October.

Close rivals David Weir (Archer) and Switzerland’s Marcel Hug locked horns once again but it was the Swiss seven-time world champion who prevailed this time around. The 29 year old narrowly took victories in the 800m and 1500m to claim the scalp of the six-time Paralympic champion.

There was also another big personal best for Richard Chiassaro in the T54 800m, as the Harlow AC athlete posted a time of 1:41.82 to improve on his previous best time of 1:43.30.

It was an encouraging weekend for Laura Sugar (Femi Akinsanya) as the European bronze medallist recorded a new personal best of 28.34 over T44 200m, which left her with two wins following a 13.67 clocking in the T44 100m. 

Triple European champion Sammi Kinghorn (Ian Mirfin) took third in the T53 200m with a new lifetime best of 31.06, while Stephen Osborne (Banks) recorded a season’s best of 22.39 in the T51 100m. Elsewhere in a world-class field, Jade Jones (Ian Thompson/Tanni Grey-Thompson) was fourth in the T54 800m in 1:55.37, a solid performance from the Commonwealth bronze medallist. 

In the field, European fourth placer Abbie Hunnisett (Camilla Thrush) added 11cm to her personal best to win the F32 club throw with a throw of 19.24m. 

For full results from the IPC Grand Prix in Nottwil, please see here