It was 400m and 5000m day in Nottwil for the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Switzerland, and it was Daniel Sidbury (coach: Christine Parsloe, club: Sutton & District) who shone with two personal bests.

Sidbury won a highly entertaining contest ahead of Nathan Maguire (Ste Hoskins, Kirkby) and Richard Chiassaro (Jenni Banks, Harlow) in the men’s T54 400m. All in the same heat, there was nothing separating them as they sprinted down the home straight with Sidbury just pipping Maguire to the line in 47.14 to 47.19 – it was a small personal best for the former. As for Chiassaro he was well in the mix as he crossed the line in 47.72.

In earlier T54 400m heats, Dillon Labrooy (Jenny Archer, Weir Archer Academy) clocked a time of 50.40, while Michael McCabe (Christine Parsloe, Sutton & District) crossed the line in 50.63, finishing 17^th and 18^th respectively.

Following on from his European record in the 800m on day one, James Freeman (Jenny Archer, Weir Archer Academy) showed his PB shape yet again as he posted a time of 1:05.21 over 400m to revise his previous best of 1:07.95. He pipped countryman Andrew Small (Rick Hoskins, Stockport) to the win who was the next T33 athlete in the field in 1:06.52

Starting his competition in Nottwil, European medallist Mo Jomni (Jenny Archer, Weir Archer Academy) was the fastest of the T53 men over 400m as he posted a time of 52.16. Elsewhere, Marcus Perrineau Daley (Weir Archer Academy) was the quickest T52 athlete in 1:02.55, while in the men’s T34 400m Ben Rowlings (Coventry) was seventh overall with 54.52 and Hugo Patteson Knight (Sutton and District) was 13^th in 1:11.42.

In the women’s 400m, Sammi Kinghorn (Rodger Harkins, Red Star) was again involved in a fast T53 race as the Swiss athlete Catherine Debrunner improved the world record to 52.21, while the Scottish athlete was next across the line in 55.02.

Mel Woods (Rodger Harkins, Red Star) was third overall in the women’s T54 400m in a time of 56.41, and Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Jenny Archer, Weir Archer Academy) was 10^th overall with her time of 59.89.

In the 5000m during the afternoon session, Danny Sidbury was back in action as came agonisingly close to David Weir’s British T54 record as he clocked a fantastic time of 9:54.01.

Impressively it was the first time he had pushed under 10 minutes for the 5000m distance, with his previous best at 10:01.19 prior to this contest. However, the Paralympian was not far behind race winner Marcel Hug (SUI) who recorded a time of 9:51.97.

David Weir (Jenny Archer, Weir Archer Academy) was also racing over 5000m and crossed the line in seventh overall in a time of 10:34.13. Michael McCabe was 11^th overall with his time of 11:01.60 in an earlier heat.

Grace Greenwood (Peter Irving, Jersey) was the final athlete in action for the British contingent on Friday racing in the ambulant 100. The T35 athlete posted a time of 18.80 (1.9).

Results