Four Americas records brighten up Rio test event amid torrential rain

Four Americas records were set by Brazilian athletes on the first day of action at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Wednesday (18 May), a competition that is acting as the final test event for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The first record of the day was set in the men’s discus F11 by Alessandro Rodrigo da Silva after the Parapan American Games champion threw 43.16m. His throw surpassed the previous best set at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games by 2.73m. Da Silva’s compatriot Luciano dos Santos Pereira (37.24m) took silver whilst bronze went to Argentina’s Sergio Hernan Paz (33.43m).

Despite torrential rain for most of the session, Americas records fell in the men’s 5,000m T11 and T12 events.

Odair Santos (15:16.82) lowered his own record set at the 2011 World Championships by 0.05 as he eased to the win in the T11 class. His teammate Carlos Jose Barto da Silva (16:30.63) was second and Venezuela’s Darwin Castro (16:37.59) was third.

Julio Cesar Agripino dos Santos (14:55.98) also wrote his name into the record books by taking five seconds off the 5,000m T12 Americas record which had stood since the Athens 2004 Paralympics. Colombia’s Serna Moreno (15:32.32) and Brazil’s Francisco Ortega Jacques (15:59.67) completed the podium.

The men’s long jump T38 saw Eduardo Guimaraes de Oliveira (5.59m) first equal the Americas record of 5.41m in the opening round, before breaking it twice in the third and fifth rounds to take the gold. His teammate Pedro Paulo Neves da Silva (5.57m), the previous record holder, took silver and Venezuela’s Jose Mendoza (4.68m) the bronze.

The opening event of the day, the men’s javelin F57, was won by Brazil’s Ciero Valdiran Lins Nobre, a F43 thrower, with a second round effort of 41.62m. Second was Brazil’s 2015 Parapan American Games gold medallist Claudiney Batista Dos Santos (40.65m) and third was Venezuela’s Rommy Rodriguez (35.61m).

Brazil claimed the top two podium positions in the men’s javelin F54. Top spot went to Jose Humberto Rodrigues (24.82m) who led from the opening round but saved his best throw until his final effort of the day. His compatriot Fernando Ottoni Rosa (20.84m) was second and Chile’s Alan Moyano Andrades (17.45m) was third.

Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games silver medallist Restrepo Munoz (28.14m) of Colombia picked up the gold in the women’s discus F11 finishing ahead of Canada’s Ness Murby (26.74m) in silver and Brazil’s Izabela Silva Campos (25.78m) in bronze.

The men’s long jump T37 was a close affair with just 13cm separating the podium finishers. Russia’s two-time Paralympian Vladislav Barinov took gold with a fourth round leap of 5.79m. His teammate Gocha Khugaev (5.76m) took silver and Brazil’s Mateus Evangelista Cardoso (5.66m) the bronze.

There was also another Russian one-two in the women’s long jump T20. Teenager Aleksandra Ruchkina (5.05m) took gold, edging out teammate Kristina Minakova (4.89m) into silver. Brazil’s Adriele de Moraes (4.50m) claimed the bronze.

After losing his discus F44 world record at the weekend to teammate David Blair, the USA’s Jeremy Campbell got back to winning ways with a throw of 61.29m. The Brazilian duo of Marco Aurelio Lima Borges (48.47m) and Ciero Filho Tavares (34.52m) came second and third.

Brazil’s Fabio da Silva Bordignon (4.18m) won the men’s long jump T36.

On the track Brazil’s Ariosvaldo Fernandes da Silva (14.74) took victory in the men’s 100m T53 comfortably beating France’s world bronze medallist Pierre Fairbank (15.61) in second. Venezuela’s Jesus Aguilar (17.03) was third.

Despite the horrendous rain, Brazil’s Mateus Evangelista Cardoso (11.73) ran a quick time to claim the win in the men’s 100m T37. The 22-year-old finished ahead of Venezuela’s Omar Monterola (12.09) and Brazil’s Lucas Andre Ferrari (12.77) in second and third respectively.

Competition will continue through to Saturday (21 May) at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Rio.

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