Grosseto 2016 - Day five preview

Day five of the IPC Athletics European Championships in Grosseto, Italy, sees 12 100m finals take place out on the track – including the women’s 100m T42 which stars world champion and home favourite Martina Caironi.

Caironi won silver in the long jump on Saturday having just recently returned from injury – the 26-year-old is up against her chief rival, Germany’s Vanessa Low once again.

Great Britain’s Paralympic champion Jonnie Peacock will be hoping to secure his place in the 100m T44 final in the second of the morning’s two heats, while Germany’s Felix Streng – who has already run under 11 seconds this season – starts in the first semi-final alongside his teammate Johannes Floors, winner in the 200m and 400m T44 earlier this week.

Russia’s reigning world champion Dmitiri Safronov heads the field in the men’s 100m T35, while in the 100m T53 Great Britain’s Paralympic champion Mickey Bushell starts as favourite as the only competitor to have gone under 15 seconds this season.

Finnish Paralympic champion Leo Pekka Tahti faces stiff competition in the 100m T54 as British racer Richard Chiassaro – winner over 200m – also lines up.

British hopes also lie with teenage sprinter Maria Lyle, who will be hoping to defend her second European title on Wednesday, the 200m T35; Paralympic and world champion Richard Whitehead, who starts as favourite in the men’s 200m T42; and Georgina Hermitage, who lines up in the 100m T37 with two European titles and two world records already under her belt.

Watch out too for reigning world champion Sophie Hahn in the 100m T38 – she faces Russia’s 200m world and European champion Margarita Goncharova.

Other Russians hoping to help secure their country’s place at the top of the medals table include double Paralympic champion Evgenii Shvetcov, who will no doubt be hoping to make amends for his disqualification in Tuesday’s 100m T36 when he races over two laps on Wednesday.

Elena Pautova, also a reigning world and Paralympic champion, will be favourite for gold in the 1,500m T13. Natalia Kocherova lines up in the 100m T54 – a win would mean the 26-year-old has a remarkable five golds with the 1,500m to go tomorrow.

Triple world champion Barbara Niewiedzial takes on her two big rivals in the women’s 400m T20 – fellow Poles Arleta Meloch and Sabina Stenka.

All three medallists from last year’s World Championships line up in the men’s discus F11 – Spain’s David Casinos, Bill Marinkovic and Russia’s Vitalii Telesh – but watch out too for Italy’s world number two Oney Tapia who has thrown the furthest this season.

It’s a similar story in the men’s shot put F55, with Bulgaria’s world gold medallist Ruzhdi Ruzhdi, Serbia’s world silver medallist Milos Zaric and Poland’s world bronze medallist Karol Kozun all starting. Less than 40 centimetres separated the trio in Doha.

Numerous other world champions also go for gold on Wednesday – including Great Britain’s Jo Butterfield in the women’s club throw F31/32/51, Sweden’s Per Jonsson in the long jump T12, Russia’s Sofia Oksem in the women’s discus F11/12 and Greece’s Che Jon Fernandes in the shot put F53.

Live streaming, live results and full schedules are available at www.grosseto2016.com

For broadcast footage from Grosseto2016 please email IPC Broadcasting Manager sascha.beck@paralympic.org

Rights free images from the event can be downloaded here: www.flickr.com/paralympic