Pistorius and McFadden impressive at IPC Athletics

Pistorius and McFadden impressive at IPC Athletics

America’s Tatyana McFadden and South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius were the shining stars on a bleak and blustery morning on day eight of the IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch.

McFadden could not have been more impressive in totally dominating the women’s 400m T54 field to win by more than two seconds in 54.88secs from Canadian Diane Roy and Switzerland’s Manuela Schaer.

This was her fourth gold of the championships (200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m) to go with a bronze in the 100m.

Pistorius was again all class, back to a more familiar distance compared with the 100m of earlier in the week.

Despite the blustery conditions the South African still set a new championship record of 48.37secs in defeating Germany’s David Behre (51.40sec) and David Prince (52.35) of the United States.

After the race Pistorius admitted that despite such an excellent win, it was the relay this afternoon that was exciting him. “It’s a team event and we have four runners under 11secs and despite a bad draw I am confident for South Africa.

The first world record of the day was in the women’s discus F35/36 where Mariia Pomazan threw 28.73m (1073pts) to smash the old record by more than three metres. Silver went to Poland’s Renata Chilewska (25.22m, 994 pts) with Katherine Proud foot (Australia) taking the bronze with a championship record for the F36 class of 24.52m 958pts.

The men’s 400m T38 also produced a world best, thanks to the 49.33sec run from Tunisia’s Mohamed Farhat Chida. In a tight finish he just headed Australia’s Evan O’Hanlon (49.72secs) with former world record holder Tim Sullivan (Australia) finishing third in 53.42secs.
Iran’s Iranian Se Hussein Livery (61.48m) set a world record in the men’s javelin F13 but had to bow to China’s Pinkie Zhu for the gold medal. Zhu (F12) threw 61.90m was enough to head the Iranian. Serbia’s Miles Garlic (60.81) was third.

Brazil filled the first two places in the men’s 200m T11 with Lucas Prado winning in championship record time of 22.97secs from Daniel Silva (23.12secs). Elexis Gillette (United States) was third (23.74secs).

Another championship record fell in the men’s 400m T13 where Alexander Verve (Russia) recorded 49.41secs, to pip Greece’s Ionise Protos (4974secs) and Abdelillah Mame (Morocco) took the bronze in 50.45secs.

The men’s 200m T12 fell to the Poland’s Mateusz in 22.02secs with Luis Goncalves (Portugal) getting the silver in 22.57secs and Maximiliano Rodriguez (Spain) taking the bronze in 22.84secs.

Bethaney Woodward surprised herself with a win in the women’s 400m T37 in a personal best of 1:09.21secs. The silver went to Ukraine’s Maryna Snisar (1:09.94) with the Russian, Anastasiya Ovsyannikova, finishing third in 1:10.26secs.

Slovakia’s Tatjana Majcen set a championship record for the F54 class but had to settle for silver behind Germany’s Marianne Buggenhagen in the women’s shot put F54/55/56. The German won with a throw of 8.48m 964pts with Majcen throwing 6.64m 957 pts. Czech Republic’s Eva Kacanu was third with a throw of 6.34m 911 pts.

The women’s discus F51/52/53 fell to Catherine Wayland (Ireland), the world record holder, with a throw of 5.89m. Silver went to Zena Cole, of the United States, with a throw of 4.79m from Mexico’s Estela Salas (12.08m).

Iran’s Bazanjani Peyman Nasiri set a championshp record in the men’s 1500m T20
with a time of 3:57.10secs, two seconds to the better of Tim Page, of Australia, (3:59.22) with Mncedi Khanti (South Africa) third (4:03.13.

In total 50 World records and 125 Championship records have been set over the seven days.

For the latest Championship results, please visit the official website at
www.ipcathleticsworldchamps.com/results.php http://www.ipcathleticsworldchamps.com/results.php

To find out more about the athletes competing in Christchurch please visit
the Biographies section of the IPC Athletics website
at http://ipc-athletics.paralympic.org/Athletes_Biographies/

Throughout the event, www.ParalympicSport.TV will be broadcasting live
coverage of the evening sessions between 2am and 6am GMT.

You can also catch highlights from the previous day on
www.youtube.com/paralympicsporttv http://www.youtube.com/paralympicsporttv

In addition to the live coverage from Christchurch, Paralympic sports fans
can also get the latest news, gossip and pictures from the World
Championships via the IPC's official Facebook
page www.facebook.com/ParalympicSportTV and Twitter page
www.twitter.com/paralympic

Tickets to see the IPC Athletics World Championships, which run until 30
January are still available to buy can be purchased
from www.ticketdirect.co.nz Adult tickets cost just $10 per day.

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