Caironi to line up in the IAAF Golden Gala in Rome

Paralympic gold medallist and world-record holder Martina Caironi continues her preparations for the 2013 Athletics World Championships by heading to Rome. 05 Jun 2013
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A picture of women running on a tracking field

Martina Caironi of Italy (1216) crosses the line to win gold in the Women's 100m T42 Final at the London Paralympics

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By IPC

The fifth leg of the IAAF Diamond League Series will take place at the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Double Olympic champion and superstar Usain Bolt will headline in the men’s 100m later in the evening.

Martina Caironi will compete in the 100m on home soil this Thursday (6 June), against a strong field of competitors at the IAAF Golden Gala in Rome, Italy.

Caironi, who broke her own 100m T42 world record at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix event in Grosseto less than a month ago with a time of 15.71 seconds, will line up against fellow Italian and double Paralympic silver medallist Oxana Corsa.

Corsa grabbed her medals in the 100m and 200m T35 last summer in London just weeks after her seventeenth birthday.

Looking to take the home advantage away from Caironi and Corsa in Rome is London 100m T44 finalist Saki Takukawa of Japan. In the race that featured the now legendary head-to-head between Marlou van Rhijn (NED), Marie-Amelie le Fur (FRA) and April Holmes (USA), Takukawa qualified with a season’s best time of 14.06 seconds and finished less than a second behind the top three in the final in 14.22 seconds.

Caironi meanwhile is looking strong ahead of the IPC World Championships in France and will travel to Lyon as favourite for gold in the event that features her rival and current World Champion Kelly Cartwright (AUS).

Also lining up in the women’s 100m mixed-classification at the Golden Gala are veteran runners Annette Roozen (NED), Hitomi Onishi (JPN) and Giuseppina Versace (ITA).

22 year-old Laura Sugar (GBR) also goes to Rome fresh from finishing second in the 100m T44 at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai in March.

The fifth leg of the IAAF Diamond League Series will take place at the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Double Olympic champion and superstar Usain Bolt will headline in the men’s 100m later in the evening.

The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships will take place in Lyon, France from 19-28 July. Featuring around 1,300 athletes from 90 countries, it will be the biggest gathering of international track and field athletes since London 2012.