Caironi lowers 100m world record to take Doha 2015 gold

Martina Caironi obliterated her own 24-hour-old world record on Friday (30 October) with a sensational run to win 100m T42 gold at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

The 26-year-old Italian ran 15.01 in Thursday’s heats, but in the final went even faster, powering home in an impressive 14.61. Germany’s Vanessa Low (15.41), the long jump gold medallist, took silver with a personal best and Brazil’s Ana Claudia Silva (16.28) claimed bronze.

“This is my personal answer back to Vanessa Low after stealing my gold medal in the long jump a few days ago!” said a delighted Caironi who took silver in that event. “I’ve now got two world records in two days, which was my goal this year. I’m totally happy and satisfied. Now I can relax in the knowledge of my place in the Rio Paralympic Games being secured, and overall it’s a beautiful day for me.”

Two countries won their first ever world titles on Friday, the penultimate day of competition.

A highly emotional Marcio Miguel Da Costa Fernandes shed tears of joy on the podium as the Cape Verde national anthem was played for the first time at an IPC Athletics World Championships. The 32-year-old, who now trains in Bedford, Great Britain, as a result of a pre-London 2012 training camp, won the men’s javelin F44 with an African record of 56.24m.

“It was such an incredibly tough competition. I’ve been training for so long but unfortunately I got a back injury while in Conga and I couldn’t perform at my best. Anyway this gold is a gift,” said Fernandes.

An Oceania record by Rory McSweeney (55.80m) secured him silver and Iceland’s F42 thrower Helgi Sveinsson (55.18m) picked up the bronze with a championship record. Trinidad and Tobago’s Akeem Stewart (54.77m) finished fourth and set a new F43 world record.

Uzbekistan also claimed their first ever world title thanks to Khusniddin Norbekov’s throw of 53.81m in the men’s discus F37. The shot put bronze medallist beat Australia’s Guy Henly (53.41m) into silver and Ukraine’s Mykola Zhabnyak (52.17m) into bronze.

In addition to Caironi and Stewart’s performances, Poland’s Maciej Lepiato and Croatia’s Mikela Ristoski also rewrote the record brooks.

Lepiato secured his third successive world title by adding 1cm to his previous best in the men’s high jump T44.

“This has been the hardest year for me because I’ve been suffering from back pain, my abductor muscle in my legs was hurting all the time during my training sessions,” Lepiato. “This gold is much more important than a gold in the Paralympic Games. With Jonathan [Broom-Edwards] we are good friends, so this gold with him taste better and this medal belongs to him as well.”

Great Britain’s Broom-Edwards (2.05m) and the USA’s Jeff Skiba (1.96m) joined Lepiato on the podium.

A final round leap of 11.67m by Ristoski, added 25cm to the 13-year-old women’s triple jump T20 world record, and secured Croatia their second Doha 2015 gold. The Portuguese pair of Erica Gomes (10.89m) and Ana Felipe (10.07m) won silver and bronze respectively.

After adding three more gold medals on Friday, Tunisia now has 10 titles, two more than their previous best at a World Championships.

Somaya Bousaid (4:33.51) led from start to finish to win the women’s 1,500m T13. Russia’s Elena Pautova (4:41.50) took silver and Chile’s Margarita Faundez (4:51.88) finished with bronze.

A championship record by Abbes Saidi (4:09.92) won him a closely fought gold in the men’s 1,500m T38. Silver and bronze went to France’s Louis Radius (4:10.17), who ran a European record, and Australia’s Deon Kenzie (4:11.60).

Tunisia’s hat-trick of golds came in the field through Maroua Ibrahmi (6.18m) who followed up club gold by topping the podium in the women’s shot put F32. Algeria’s Mounia Gasmi (4.54m) and Australia’s Louise Ellery (4.26m) took silver and bronze respectively.

“It’s a great feeling to win my second gold medal in this championships because it is the most important competition for me. It’s a big step towards Rio,” said Ibrahmi.

The first gold medal of Friday was taken by the USA’s Deja Young (12.69) in the women’s 100m T47. The 200m silver medallist won a thrilling race that saw the top three finishers separated by 0.05 seconds. A photo finish gave China’s Yanping Wang the silver from Poland’s Alicja Fiodorow in bronze as both sprinters clocked 12.74.

Days after collapsing in the 5,000m within 90 metres of gold, Brazil’s Odair Santos (4:08.48) bounced back to claim the win in the men’s 1,500m T11.

“Everything happens for a reason, I was leading in the 5,000m race but unfortunately I fell down and woke up in hospital. God has his reasons for everything and thankfully this is my redemption,” said Santos who beat Chile’s 5,000m champion Cristian Valenzuela (4:14.00) to the line. Bronze went to Turkey’s Hassan Huseyin Kacar (4:16.58).

With victory in the women’s 400m T20, Poland’s Barbara Niewiedzial (57.58) became only the sixth athlete at Doha 2015 to complete a hat-trick of world titles. She added the 400m title to her 800m and 1,500m crowns leading home Ukraine’s Natalia Iezlovetska (59.19) in second and Malaysia’s Siti Noor Isaah Mohamad (1:00:35) with an Asian record in third.

Michael McKillop won the men’s 1,500m T37 to complete a unique triple double. The Irishman sprinted home in 4:16.19 to secure his third successive 800m and 1,500m double at World Championships.

“It’s been a long hard year, so to leave the Middle East with gold medals is amazing. It was a tough race, but when you have determination to conquer like me, then you can do anything,” said McKillop.

Australia’s Brad Scott (4:21.12) and Algeria’s Madjid Djemai (4:29.94) joined McKillop on the podium.

Brazil’s Renata Bazone Teixeira (2:24.31) was awarded gold in the women’s 800m T11 after Colombia’s Maritza Arango Buitrago, who crossed the line first, was disqualified. Angola’s Befilia Buya (2:34.72) took the silver.

Despite setting the pace for the first half of the race, the USA’s Michael Brannigan (15:50.99) tired in the last 1,000m and had to settle for silver behind eventual race winner Daisuke Nakagawa (15:50.99), Japan’s first track gold medallist of Doha 2015. Jose Azevedo (16:21.28) picked up bronze for Portugal.

A second round leap of 14.16m was good enough for Portugal’s Lenine Cunha to claim his country’s second gold of Doha 2015 in the men’s triple jump T20. The battle for silver was very close with Greece’s Evangelos Kanavos (13.50m) just taking it 2cm ahead of the Netherlands’ Ranki Oberoi (13.48m).

Garrah Tnaiash (10.66m) set an Asian record in the third round to win Iraq’s first gold of the championships in the men’s shot put F40. Just behind him was Russia’s Dmitry Dushkin (10.61m), who set a personal best, whilst China’s Zhenya Chen (9.83) was third.

The final medal event of the day was won by China’s Guoshan Lu (44.56m). Silver courtesy of a fifth round throw of 44.37m went to Brazil’s Claudiney dos Santos Batista whilst Azerbaijan’s Samir Nabiyev (44.34m) won bronze.

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