McFadden says Nottwil success is ideal preparation for Rio 2016

The US T54 racer is aiming to win seven golds in Rio and warmed up 10 races in four days in Switzerland. 29 May 2016
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Tatyana Mcfadden competes in torrential rain at the 2016 IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland.

Tatyana Mcfadden competes in torrential rain at the 2016 IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland.

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US racer Tatyana McFadden rounded off the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland, on Sunday (29 May) with an impressive four wins - which she believes have provided vital preparation ahead of the Rio Games in September.

McFadden crossed the line first in the women’s 800m T54 on Sunday afternoon, the final session of the Grand Prix and her fifth event on the Swiss track – but was subsequently disqualified.

The multiple Paralympic champion had won the 5,000m earlier in the day to add to her victories over 100m, 400m and 1,500m on Saturday (28 May).

With 10 races over four days in Nottwil, McFadden welcomed the chance to successfully complete a busy timetable.

“Having a schedule like this with no breaks - my first few days (in Rio) will be like this, so it’s good practice and really good competition. It’s good that it was this intense,” said McFadden, who plans to race in a record seven events in Brazil.

McFadden clocked her second fastest time ever over 100m (15.93) and finished well clear of the field in the 400m, and she was clearly satisfied with her performances.

“My highlight has definitely been the 100m – I surprisingly did really well, running just under 16 seconds and not having a whole lot of time to practice on the start. I know that I’m going in the right direction,” she added.

Swiss racer Manuela Schaer was awarded the win in the 800m T54 in a time of 1:51.32.

Home favourite Marcel Hug notched up a hat-trick of wins on his local track as he added the 800m (1:36.35) and 10,000m T54 (22:07.14) to his win over 1,500m the day before.

Hug, the current world number one over 800m, led from the front in the two lap race and made it hard for the opposition to get past.

“It was good, I took the lead and did a good finish – I’m happy,” said Hug, who lost out to Tana over 5,000m earlier in the day.

“It was a tough race, the 5,000m, I attacked too early in the last lap so it was my mistake.

“In the 800m I had a little bit of an advantage to be in front because (Tana) had to come outside of lane two. Overall the races were really good and it was good experience for Rio – I know what I have to do and what I have to train for.”

Great Britain’s triple world champion Hannah Cockroft continues to keep her rivals at bay as she also completed four wins in Nottwil, clocking 2:07.40 to win the women’s 800m T34. Japan’s Kazumi Nakayama (1:59.19) won the women’s T53 race.

The UAE’s world silver medallist Mohamed Hammadi (1:46.80) powered round the final bend of the men’s 800m T34 to take the win ahead of Australia’s former world record holder Rheed McCracken (1:47.19), with Finland’s early leader Henry Manni (1:47.40) in third.

Victory in the men’s 800m T52 went to Mexico’s Leonardo Perez Juarez (2:12.44) and Germany’s Stefan Strobel (3:24.89) won the men’s T51, while Korea’s Byunghoon Yoo (1:44.99).

South Africa's Pieter Du Preez (37:30.50) won the final track event of the weekend, the men's 10,000m T51.

There was a European record out in the field for F38 long jumper Mykyta Senyk who leapt 6.22m; Dutch former long jump F44 world champion Iris Pruysen managed a best of 4.63m to win the women’s F12/35-47, Saudi Arabia’s F20 long jumper Asaad Sharaheli jumped 6.71m, and Frenchman Valentin Bertrand leapt 5.24m in the F37 class.

The men’s discus F35-47 was won by Brazilian Marco Aurelio Borges (F44) who threw 47.74m – F42 Para athlete Tom Habscheid was second with 42.59m.

India’s Karam Jyoti managed 5.78m in the shot put F55, Ukraine’s Svitlana Stetsyuk threw 4.13m in the shot put F53, Greek F34 thrower Anastasia Triantafyllidou registered 6.00m and the Netherlands’ F33 Para athlete Luna Jansen threw her shot put 3.38m.

Attention now turns to Grosseto, Italy, for the IPC Athletics European Championships which take place from 10-16 June.