Paris 23: Mirzayorova beats Paralympic champion, Tlili extends domination

Paralympic champions Raoua Tlili and Jose Gregorio Lemos added more gold to their CVs on the opening day of competitions at the Paris 23 Para Athletics World Championships on Sunday (9 July). The other two finals of the session saw the first world title of two Tokyo 2020 medallists.

Mexico’s Rosa Maria Guerrero had the Paralympic bronze from Tokyo and a World Championships bronze from London 2017 in the women’s discus F55 as her major achievements until Sunday morning in Paris. She was in second place behind defending world champion Erica Castano of Colombia but turned silver into gold in her sixth and final attempt.

Guerrero threw 26.12m to take the lead. Castano finished second with a personal best of 25.70m. Latvia’s Diana Krumina took the bronze medal (24.63m) leaving China’s back-to-back Paralympic champion Feixia Dong in fourth.

Uzbekistan’s Asila Mirzayorova dominated the women’s long jump T11 from the first attempt to dethrone Brazil’s world record holder and two-time Paralympic champion Silvania Costa. 

Mirzayorova broke Costa’s championships record from Doha 2015 in her second jump (5.07m) and improved her own record in the fifth attempt to secure her first gold in major events (5.13m). 

Brazil’s Lorena Salvatini bagged silver (4.91m) and Guohua Zhou, bronze (4.83m). Paralympic champion Costa had to settle for the fifth place.

Tireless Tlili

Tunisia’s Tlili extended her dominance in the women’s shot put F41 taking her ninth World Championships title this morning in the French capital. She led from the start and secured the triumph with a 10.15m-throw. 

Kubaro Khakimova put Uzbekistan in the podium for the second time on Sunday taking silver with an Asian record (9.83m). Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Mayerli Buitrago Ariza of Colombia finished in third (9.62m).

"I am happy for the gold medal, but I didn't like my performance today. No problem for me, I got a gold,” Tlilis said.  “I encourage women to practice sports. Sports have changed my life, it changed my mentality. I want to transfer this feeling to other people with disability.

Colombian thrower Jose Gregorio Lemos arrived in France for his debut World Championships as the Paralympic champion and world record holder in the men’s javelin F38. Now he is also the world champion and owner of the championships record (58.14m in the second attempt).

It was a Colombian one-two as Luis Fernando Lucumi picked silver (53.28m). Paralympic silver medallist in the event. Paralympic silver medallist, Ukraine’s Vladyslav Bilyi ended with bronze.

The Sunday action continues with seven finals in the evening session. Complete schedule and results can be found here.

The Paris 23 Para Athletics World Championships will be streamed live on World Para Athletics Facebook page with geo-blocking restrictions in certain territories.

More information is available here.