Caironi reaches new lengths in Grosseto

“After the run-up and the jump I felt good; I knew I had jumped well. When the announcer said ‘five metres’ I was like ‘finally!’. It’s my favourite number – and now it’s a number I have to go beyond. That’s my new aim.”

Italy’s golden girl Martina Caironi was one of five world record-breakers in a thrilling second day of competition at the Grosseto Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Paralympic and world champion set a new world record of 5.00m in the women’s long jump T63, a distance which the 29-year-old admitted had been a key target for many years.

“I jumped five metres and I’m really, really happy as it has been my aim forever,” said Caironi, who won European gold last year with 4.91m.

“After the run-up and the jump I felt good; I knew I had jumped well. When the announcer said ‘five metres’ I was like ‘finally!’. It’s my favourite number – and now it’s a number I have to go beyond. That’s my new aim.”

Hungary’s Luca Ekler (5.51m) also made her mark in the long jump pit, adding four centimetres on to her previous best to claim a new world record in the women’s T38 class.

The 20-year-old European champion had set the previous world record of 5.47m a year ago in Paris, France, but she quickly left that distance behind, opening with a first-round leap of 5.50m, before adding one more centimetre in the fifth round.

Indian duo shine in the field

Two more world records fell in the field thanks to Indian duo Sumit Sumit and Sandeep Sandeep.

Asian Para Games champion Sandeep, who competes in the F44 class, threw a massive 65.80m in the javelin competition – his only legal throw of the day. The mark was more than five metres further than his winning throw at Jakarta 2018.

Sumit threw 60.45m in the javelin F64, a new world record in the class for single below-knee amputees established last year.

There was a world record on the track too as Japan’s Erina Yuguchi clocked 21.08 - a new women’s 100m T61 world record and exactly 0.5 seconds faster than the previous record time she recorded in Beijing, China, last month.

There were a number of other 100m races on the track on Saturday.

Caironi (15.03) and Ekler (12.91) went on to win their respective T63 and T38 sprints; Spain’s Adiar Iglesias Forneiro (12.42) recorded the second fastest time of the year so far in the women’s T12; USA’s Kym Crosby (12.38) beat South African Johanna Pretorius (12.88) in the women’s T13; and USA’s Deja Young (12.11) was the clear winner in the women’s T46/47.

Smyth's season debut postponed

In the men’s races, US world and Paralympic champion David Brown (11.31) won the T11; Azerbaijan’s Elmir Jabrayilov (11.19) saw of South Africa’s Ndodomzi Ntutu (11.22) to win the T12; Russia’s Evgenii Torsunov (12.40) won the T36 and Great Britain’s double European champion Thomas Young (11.51) got the better of Russian Andrei Poroshin (11.78) in the T38 sprint.

Sadly, multiple world and Paralympic champion Jason Smyth was forced to withdraw from the competition due to “a little back niggle”. The 31-year-old had intended to open his season in Grosseto but posted on social media: “Not the time for me to be rolling the dice. Onto the next one.”

In the early evening, action on the track turned to the 800m, with Russia’s Alexander Rabotnitskiy (1:54.57) and Hungary’s Bernadett Biacsi (2:16.72) each completing a middle-distance double in the men’s and women’s T20 class, having won over 1500m a day earlier. Ecuador’s Darwin Castro (15:46.09) also made it two wins out of two, adding the men’s 5,000m T11 to his victory in the 1500m T11 on Friday.

More wins for Italy

There were wins for Italy’s top throwers Assunta Legnante and Giuseppe Campoccio. Legnante, who is aiming for the shot put and discus double at Tokyo 2020, managed 15.15m in the women’s shot put F11-13, more than three metres clear of her rivals, while Campoccio sealed a comfortable win in the shot put F32-34 with a best of 11.49m.

Ireland’s Noelle Lenihan threw 29.52m in the women’s discus F37/38; her teammate Orla Barry (26.37m) came out on top in the women’s discus F54-57.

Spain’s Kim Lopez (14.89m) took the win in the shot put F11-13 and Briton Kyron Duke won the shot put F40/41 – although he was unable to match his form from earlier in the season, his best of 13.17m coming in the fifth round.

Action in Grosseto concludes on Sunday with full results available here.