21 March 2017

It was a day of 400 metres and field events on the second day of action at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai.

Paralympic T36 400m gold medallist Paul Blake (Rob Ellchuk) ran his first 400m since the Rio final today, recording a time of 56.19 less than 24 hours after his 200m victory. It was another strong showing by Blake, in a competition which is shaping up to be an encouraging opener to the season.

Andy Small (Rick Hoskins) made a rare appearance over 400m, clocking the fastest time for a T33 athlete on the day with 63.46 which was also a personal best for the Stockport Harrier.

Michael Nicholls (Alison O’Riordan) made his first appearance at an overseas competition, in only his third year of competing in para athletics. The F44 discus thrower threw a best of 42.68m in the third round during a consistent series to finish third overall in the combined F44-46 event.  

Stevenage and North Herts athlete Martina Barber ran superbly to win the T20 400m in 62:22. Elsewhere, 54.89 was the time for Dan Powell (Joe McDonnell) in the T11 400m whilst Shaun Burrows (Joe McDonnell) won his 400m in 55.24. 

Craig Boardman (Paul Smith) picked up where he left off yesterday in the 200m, pushing to another big lifetime best in the T34 400m, clocking 54.21. Fellow Brits, Nate Williams (Rick Hoskins) and Jamie Edwards (Jenny Archer) recorded times of 60.99 and 64.27 respectively. 

In the final event of the day, Karim Chan (Femi Akinsanya) managed a best of 5.68m in the fifth round of the T20 long jump to finish fifth overall in the standings. 

Full results can be found at on the Team Thomas website: http://www.team-thomas.org/