Pistorius Lights Up Christchurch With 200m Gold

‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius claimed his first gold in the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships with an emphatic performance in the Men’s 200m T44.

The South African World record holder dominated from start to finish to lead home the field in 21.80 seconds. His close rival Jerome Singleton of the USA claimed silver in 22.77, knocking more than half a second off his personal best and sending a clear message that he certainly means business in Wednesday’s 100m Final.

South Africa also claimed bronze through Arnu Fourie who ran 22.82 and also took more than half a seconds off his previous best time.

Great Britain increased their gold medal tally to four through Richard Whitehead who set a new Championship record in winning the Men’s 200m T42 in 25.88. France’s Clavel Kayitare (26.54) took silver and Japan’s Atsushi Yamamoto (26.92) the bronze.

In the third 200m race on the third morning of competition Antonis Aresti (22.25) of Cyprus won gold in the T46 Final. T45 athlete Yohansson Nascimento of Brazil set a new World record time of 22.35 in taking silver. Bronze went to Australia’s Simon Patmore (22.43).

In the Men’s 100m T13 Russia’s Alexey Labzin took advantage of the absence of World record holder Jason Smyth, missing through injury, to win gold in 11.09. South Africa’s Ndodomzi Jonathan Ntutu took silver in 11.11 and Greece’s Ioannis Protos the bronze in 11.25.

World record holder Wa Wai So (12.17) set a new Championship record in winning gold in the Men’s 100m T36. Great Britain’s Benjamin Rushgrove (12.25) took silver and Ukraine’s Roman Pavlyk (12.26) the bronze.

Another Championship record fell in the Men’s 1,500m T46 after Algeria’s Samir Nouioua finished in 3:57.37 to take gold. Silver went to Ethiopa’s Wondiye Fikre Indelbu (3:58.75) and bronze Kenya’s Abraham Tarbei (3:58.91).

In the Final of Women’s 4x100m Relay F35-38 Ukraine took gold in a new World record time of 55.07. Russia (55.70) took silver and Great Britain (58.33) bronze.

In the field Russia’s Alexy Kuznetsov (F54) set a new World record of 29.44m/999points in winning the Men’s Javelin F54/55/56. Silver went to Serbia’s Drazenko Mitrovic (26.45m/958 points) whilst Mexico’s Luis Alberto Zepeda Felix (25.27m/936 points) claimed bronze.

Latvia’s Aigars Apinis (10.03m/1001 points) also set a new World record on his way to gold in the Men’s Shot Put. Mexico’s Mauro Maximo De Jesus (8.31m/931 points) took silver and Ales Kisy (8.25m/931 points) of the Czech Republic the bronze.

Greek athlete Paschalis Stathelakos was the final world record breaker of the morning session in the Men’s Discus F40. In a hotly contested final Stathelakos threw 40.92m putting him ahead of the previous world record holder Jonathan de Souza Santos (39.31m) of Brazil. Bronze went to USA’s Scott Danberg (36.18m).

Gold in the Women’s Long Jump F20 went to Croatia’s Mikela Ristoski (5.10m) whilst Poland’s Karolina Kucharczyk (5.00m) and Krestina Zhukova (4.80m) took silver and bronze respectively.

Having won the Discus yesterday Spain’s David Casinos (12.93m) claimed his second gold of the Championships in the Men’s Shot Put F11. Silver went to Ukraine’s Vasyl Lishchynskyi (12.81m) and bronze Columbia’s Edwin Rodriguez Gonzalez (10.72m).

There were five World and four Championship records broken on the third morning of the Championships bringing the overall total to 23 World records and 43 Championships records.