Pistorius Lights Up Christchurch With 200m Gold as Records Tumble

Day three of the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand saw Oscar Pistorius take 200m T44 gold whilst 10 World and 20 Championship records fell.

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 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).

Monday saw seven 100m Finals with the highlight a World record in the Men’s T37 through Egypt’s Mostafa Fathalla Mohamed (11.61). South Africa’s Fanie Van Der Merwe (11.69) picked up silver and Algeria’s Sofiane Hamdi (11.86) the bronze.

Russia’s Alexey Labzin took advantage of the absence of World record holder Jason Smyth, missing through injury, to win gold in 11.09 in the T13 class. 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.

The first two medal races of the afternoon session saw two gold medals for Mexico.

In the Men’s 100m T51 Edgar Navarro Sanchez (22.27) set a Championship record time as Finland’s Toni Piispanen (22.71) took second and South Africa’s Pieter Du Preez (23.49) third.

Hernandez Mondrag claimed the 100m T52 title in another Championship record time of 17.29. Silver went to Switzerland’s Beat Boesch (17.74) with USA’s Paul Nitz (18.19) taking bronze.

After winning gold in the Women’s 200m T34, Great Britain’s Hannah Cockcroft (18.98) claimed gold again with a Championship record time in the Women’s 100m T34. Japan’s Haruka Kitaura (22.55) took silver and USA’s Kristen Messer set a T33 Championship record in bronze.

In the Men’s 100m T35 South Africa’s Teboho Mokgalagadi (12.96) took gold in a Championship record from Algeria’s Allel Boukhalfa (13.38) in silver and Germany’s Niels Stein (13.59) in bronze.

The final 100m race of the day saw Australia’s Evan O’Hanlon (11.14) lower his own Championship record set yesterday in the heats to win gold in the Men’s T38. China’s Wenjun Zhou (11.42) and Brazil’s Edson Pinheiro (11.76) took silver and bronze respectively.

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 Ethiopia’s Wondiye Fikre Indelbu (3:58.75) and bronze Kenya’s Abraham Tarbei (3:58.91).

A thrilling finish in the Women’s 800m T53 saw the Championship record fall as Amanda McGrory (1:53.29) took gold in a photo finish from China’s Hongzhuan Zhou (1:53.32). World record holder Jessica Galli (1:57.88) took bronze.

Canada’s Michelle Stilwell (37.12) made it a golden sprint double by winning the Women’s 200m T52. Earlier in the Championships she had also taken gold in the 100m. Silver went to USA’s Kerry Morgan (38.82) and Japan’s Teruyo Tanaka (41.92) the bronze.

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.

Today’s heats also saw records broken. After winning gold in yesterday 200m and setting a new World record in the heats, Brazil’s Terezinha Guilhermina set another World record, this time in the Women’s 100m T11 heats. Sebastien Mobre (16.53) in the Men’s 100m T34, Switzerland’s Marcel Hug in the Men’s 5,000m, Cuba’s Yunidis Castillo in the Women’s 100m T46, China Lisha Huang (30.56) in the Women’s 200m T53 all set new Championship records.

In the field a number of World records fell on day three.

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.

In the Women’s Javelin F13 Serbia’s Tanja Dragic (36.74m) set a new F12 World record and won gold, Venezuela’s Tatiana De Tovar (34.58m) silver and Australia’s Jessica Gallagher (33.75m) 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.

Not to be outdone, Russia’s Alexey Ashapatov (16.37m/1005 points) picked up gold and a World record in the Men’s Shot Put F57/58 whilst F57 athlete Michael Louwrens (13.73m/966 points) broke the Championship record to win silver. Greece’s Anastasios Tsiou (13.72m/965 points) won bronze

Greek athlete Paschalis Stathelakos is the new World record holder and gold medal winners 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).

Lahouari Bahlaz of Algeria (20.30m/1020 points) followed Stathelakos’s lead winning gold and setting a new World record in the men’s F32/33/34 Discus. The Czech Republic’s Frantisek Serbus (20.19m/1014 points) took silver and Iran’s Jalal Khakzadieh (39.44m/994 points) the bronze.

A last round Championship record jump of 5.67m/ 1006 points secured gold for Russia’s Nikol Rodomakina in the Women’s Long Jump F44/46. Silver went to Australia’s Carlee Beattie (5.55m/977 points) and bronze Great Britain’s Stefanie Reid (4.98m/957 points) who had led going into the final round.

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).

China claimed gold and silver in the Women’s Shot Put F37 through Na Mi (11.16m) – a Championship record - and Qiuping Xu (10.23m). Bronze went to Brazil’s Shirlene Coelho (10.21m).

There were 10 World and 20 Championship records broken on the third morning of the Championships bringing the overall total to 28 World records and 59 Championship records.