Kenya Claims First Medal at 2011 IPC Athletics World Champs

The first session on day one of the IPC Athletics World Championships saw Kenya pick up the first gold medal, five World records set and 14 Championship records smashed.

Kenya’s Abraham Tarbei took the first gold of the Championships with victory in a thrilling Men’s 5,000m T46 final. The 24 year old outpaced Ethiopia’s Wondiye Fikre Indelbu in the final straight to claim first place with a time of 14:48.29. Indelbu recorded 14:48.48 and his teammate Tesfalem Gebru Kebede took bronze with 14:53.32.

The second medal event of the day saw USA’s Amanda McGrory (T53) power to victory in the Women’s 5000m T54 Final. Her time of 12:52.41 put her just ahead of Switzerland’s Sandra Graf who claimed a T54 Championship record with 12:52.61. Great Britain’s Rochelle Woods took bronze in 12:52.82.

Hirokazu Ueyonabaru claimed Japan’s first gold medal of the Championships in a photo finish in the Men’s 1,500m T52 Final. His time of 4:04.51 was just ahead of Austria’s Thomas Geierspichler (4:04.92) in silver and Spain’s Santiago Sanz in bronze (4:05.01).

Great Britain’s Hannah Cockcroft came first in the Women’s T34 Final, a non-medal event in 33.72 – a Championship record.

The Men’s 200m T51 was won by Mexican World record holder Edgar Cesareo Navarro Sanchez in a time of 42.97, a Championship record. South African Pieter Du Preez took silver (47.15) and Finland’s Toni Piispannen bronze (49.19).

In the heats of the Women’s 200m T11, Brazil’s Terezinha Guilhermina outlined her intention to keep her world title with a new World Record of 24.74 smashing a 10 year old record.

US racer Jessica Galli also smashed her own Women’s 100m T53 Championship record in the heats with a time of 17.57 seconds only to see China’s Lisha Huang lower it further in the very next heat to 16.94.

In the first field event of the day the Men’s Long Jump F37/38 Final China’s Yuxi Ma (F37) took gold with a leap of 6.07m which gave him a World record of 999 points.

Tunisia’s Mohamed Farhat Chida (F38) took silver in a Championship record of 991 points following a 6.19m jump and Ukraine’s Andriy Onufriyenko (F38) the bronze with a jump of 6.09m which equated to 978 points.

The Women’s Club Throw F31/32/51 Final saw Tunisia’s Maroua Ibrahim secure gold with an impressive throw of 21.08m, equating to 1027 points. Silver went to Ireland’s Catherine Wayland (13.56m 927 points) and bronze to Great Britain’s Gemma Prescott (16.40m 878 points).

Algeria claimed a spectacular one two in the Men’s Shot Put F32/33 Final. Karim Bettina, an F32 athlete, set a World Record and took gold with a throw of 10.89m worth 1024 points. Teammate and F33 athlete Kamel Kardjenam who threw 12.24m equating to 1020 points also set a World record in claiming silver. Czech Republic’s Roman Musil took bronze throwing 11.07m – 980points.

In the Men’s Javelin F35/36 Final Poland’s Pawel Piotrowski took gold with a Championship records throw of 42.20m worth 991 points. Brazil’s Paulo Souza took silver (40.06m 970 points) and Wei Guo of China bronze (51.62m 966 points).

The Women’s Shot Put F42/44/46 Final saw two Championship records fall. Gold medalist and F44 German athlete Michaela Floeth set a new record with a throw of 12.56m/1012 points whilst China’s F42 athlete Yongyuan Zhong took bronze with a put of 9.70m/957 points. Silver went to her teammate Yajuan Jin (12.47m/1004points).

Croatia’s Marija Ivekovic took gold in the Women’s Discus Throw F12 (40.62m), however China’s Liangmin Zhang, a F11 athlete, broke the World record with her silver medal throw (40.42m). Ukraine’s Orysia Ilchyna claimed bronze (38.86m).

Germany’s Heinrich Popow improved on the bronze medal he won at the 2006 World Championships by breaking the Championship record in the Men’s Long Jump F42 to take gold. His jump of 6.23 put him ahead of teammate Wojtek Czyz (6.14m) and Japan’s Atsushi Yamamoto (5.93m) in silver and bronze respectively.