25 October 2015

Sam Ruddock (coach: Jim Edwards) and Claire Harvey (Shelley Holroyd) both recorded personal bests to finish fifth in their respective events at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha.

Ruddock brushed aside the morning Doha heat with a 62cm personal best recording a best throw of 13.75m in the fifth round of the F35 shot put. After a disappointing campaign at the last edition of the event two years ago in the sprints, the 25 year old was buoyed with his performance this time around.

The Loughborough-based athlete, who is supported by the British Athletics Futures Programme said: “I’m so relieved – the feeling I got when I hit that 13.75m was a pure rush. I’ve seen that happen in training and all I wanted was to see that happen in competition today. The buzz word today was relief.

“It’s a shame though, because in round six, I had the chance to push it a little bit further and I think the pressure got to me a little bit. Two lifetime bests at a World Championships – if you had told me that yesterday, I would have bitten your hand off.

“Don’t take me back to that place (Lyon 2013). Lyon was such a hot, yet dark, cold place. Particularly post-200m when I knew going into that race I wasn’t going to qualify. I thought to myself this is not how I want to feel at a World Championships. Now I’m here and although I haven’t finished with a medal, but I’ve done better than I could have possibly hoped for.”

Harvey marked her debut on the international athletics stage with a top five finish in the F55 shot put final. The former sitting volleyball player added four centimetres to her lifetime best from August to finish fifth with a best of 6.83m.

“I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I was really nervous when we went into the call-room but once we got out there, I really enjoyed it. There are some amazingly talented throwers out there,” Harvey said after her morning’s efforts. 

“This time last year I had never even thought about doing athletics so to be out there competing against them is beyond my expectations. The shot put isn’t my event but I was just trying to soak up the atmosphere and get used to it before the discus.

“I’ve got the discus on Wednesday and the javelin on Thursday. It’s time to practice for the discus – we basically changed my technique so I need to keep working on it. I need to remember the positives from today and build on them.”

Mo Jomni (Jenny Archer) was also in superb form as the Weir Archer Academy athlete posted a new lifetime best of 26.78 to qualify as the second fastest qualifier for tonight’s final behind Canada’s reigning T53 200m champion Brent Lakatos.

There is no stopping Richard Whitehead (Keith Antoine), as the reigning world T42 200m champion eased through to the final of the T42 100m. Whitehead showed his true intent crossing the line in 12.39 (+4.6) to successfully navigate his way through to tonight’s final.

After finishing fifth in the T53 100m last night, Sammi Kinghorn (Ian Mirfin) advanced to the final as a fastest qualifier clocking 1:02.07, but Richard Chiassaro (Jenni Banks) missed out on a final berth in the T54 100m.

Unfortunately, Libby Clegg and Mikail Huggins (Joseph McDonnell) had to withdraw from the T12 200m semi-finals as a precaution following an injury sustained during warm-up.

British Athletics’ medal tally at the IPC Athletics World Championships (12): 

Gold (5): Jo Butterfield (F51 club throw),Hannah Cockroft (T34 100m), Kadeena Cox (T37 100m),Aled Davies (F42 shot put), Sophie Hahn (T38 100m)

Silver (5): Paul Blake (T36 400m), Georgie Hermitage (T37 100m),Maria Lyle (T35 200m),David Weir (T54 1500m & Marathon)

Bronze (2): Abbie Hunnisett (F32 club throw), Sammi Kinghorn (T53 200m) 

Over two hours of live coverage each day will also be available to watch on More4 and a live stream will be available on the Channel 4 website: http://paralympics.channel4.com/competitions/athletics-world-championships-2015/video/index.html