Golden girls back on track

Paschalis Stathelakos of Greece is the favourite for the men’s shot put F20 gold medal with a world record distance of 13.01m set earlier this year.

USA's golden girl Tatyana McFadden takes to the track yet again, this time in the women’s 1,500m T54. Another tough field awaits her though, with the likes of 5,000m T54 gold medallist Edith Wolf, world 1,500m T54 silver medallist Diane Roy and the world-record holder Shelly Woods.

Great Britain’s David Weir is on track to win his third gold medal when he competes in the men’s 800m T54 final on Thursday (6 September) evening. The British star pulled off an outstanding performance in the heats to finish as the fastest qualifier with a time of 1:37.09. The world record holder, Marcel Hug of Switzerland, finished behind Weir but qualified with the slowest time of the eight finalists.

"Blade babe" Marlou van Rhijn from the Netherlands returns for the women’s 200m T44 final after qualifying with a new T43 world record of 26.97. She faces strong competition from a field that includes the woman who beat her to gold in the 100m T44 on Sunday, Marie-Amelie le Fur of France, and the USA’s 100m T44 bronze medallist, April Holmes.

Following his much talked about silver medal in the 200m T44, South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius contests his next sprint final in the 100m T44 event. He faces sprint rivals Jonnie Peacock of Great Britain, USA’s Jerome Singleton and Blake Leeper, along with winner of the 200m Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveira of Brazil.

The women’s 200m T38 also gets underway, with the opening rounds taking place in the morning and the final in the evening. Watch out for the current world record holder and defending champion from 2008, Inna Stryzhak of the Ukraine, as well as the woman who claimed silver behind her in Beijing, Sonia Mansour.

Then there is the final of the women’s 100m T13, where Cuba’s Omara Durand will be hoping to add to the 400m T13 Paralympic gold medal she won here on Monday (3 September). The 20-year-old holds the 100m T13 world record and will be tough competition for the likes of Beijing silver and bronze medallists, Ilse Hayes and Alexandra Dimoglou.

Out in the field, the women’s discus F37 final takes place in the morning, with China’s Na Mi, the world record holder, world champion and Paralympic gold medallist in Beijing four years ago the one to beat. The 26-year-old is already showing great form, having successfully defended her shot put F37 title on Tuesday. Can she make it double gold once again?

Paschalis Stathelakos of Greece is the favourite for the men’s shot put F20 gold medal with a world-record distance of 13.01m set earlier this year. His main competition comes from Zhiming Wang of China and Algeria’s Hocine Gherzouli.

Then in the evening, there’s a stellar line up in the women’s javelin F57/58 final with the world record holders from both classifications, Mary Nakhumica (F57) and Safia Djelal (F58) going for gold in London.

China’s Duan Li is back on the field to defend his Beijing 2008 title in the men’s triple jump F11, with Denis Gulin of Russia likely to be a big threat.

Related Images

Imagen

Caption

China's Na Mi and Qiuping Xu took gold and silver, respectively, in the women's shot put F37 on Day 6 of London 2012.

Imagen

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Greece's Paschalis Stathelakos broke the world record in men's shot put F40 with a 13.01m throw at 2012 IPC Athletics European Championships.