O’Hanlon misses medal as Championships kick off

Beijing triple gold medallist Evan O’Hanlon’s hopes of five gold medals at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships have been dashed after he failed to medal in the men’s F37/38 long jump on day one in Christchurch.

O’Hanlon, a F38 cerebral palsy athlete, jumped 6.01m to claim fourth place behind the Chinese gold medallist Yuxi Ma (F37) who set a world record of 6.07m. Beijing long jump gold medallist Mohamed Farhat Chida (F37) followed in second place with Ukraine’s Andriy Onufriyenko (F38) third.

Disappointed with his result that fell 4cm short of his 6.11m PB, his attention now turns to the T38 100m and 200m for which he holds both world records.

“For me long jump is my newest event and it’s the most technical out of them so it’s really different to just running as fast as I can,” said O’Hanlon.

“I’ m really disappointed with my results but I’ll just back up tomorrow for the 100m heats and make up for it.”

A trained sprinter, today was the 22-year-old’s first international hit out in the long jump pit. A 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay gold medallist at the Beijing Paralympics, all in world record time, O’Hanlon also became the first cerebral palsy athlete to run 100m in under 11 seconds, blazing down the straight in 10.96.

“I’m feeling really confident for my 100m and 200m, feeling really good on the track. I was surprised I didn’t do well today so I’ll get out there in the heats tomorrow and have a blast,” he said.

In the other morning finals, Australia’s secured shot put world record holder Louise Ellery set a new Australian record in the women’s combined class F31/32-51 club throw.

Not a Paralympic event, the Australian record holder threw 15.00m to finish fifth behind Tunisia’s gold medallist Maroua Ibrahmi (F32). Ireland’s Catherine Wayland followed in second with Gemma Prescott of Great Britain third.

Despite throwing a 1.31m PB, Ellery finished fifth in the combined class event and is happy with her result. Tomorrow she is looking to break her 6.17m world record in the women’s F32/33/34 shot put final.

“I’m pumped, it was a really big PB,” said Ellery.

“I’m quite confident for the shot put, relaxed in knowing I’ve done all that I can. I’ve been doing well in training so fingers crossed the hard yards will pay off and a world record might follow.”