Tokyo Paralympics: Para athletics day 4 preview

The National Olympic Stadium will host 15 medal events on 30 August, day four of the Para athletics programme at Tokyo 2020.

Monday will see more finals in the morning session than in the afternoon with the first event scheduled to 9:00 am (Tokyo time): the men’s long jump T12.

Uzbekistan’s Doniyor Saliev is the back-to-back world champion from London 2017 and Dubai 2019 looking for his first Paralympic gold.

Azerbaijan will have high hopes in that event with Rio 2016 silver medallist Kamil Aliyev and Said Najafzade who won the European title in June in Poland.

The men’s discus throw F56 also has a clear favourite and he comes from Brazil. Claudiney Batista is the defending champion and world record holder. He is also the current world champion from Dubai 2019.

Iran’s Ali Mohammadyari finished second to Batista in Dubai and will be aiming gold alongside Cuba’s Leonardo Diaz, who already has two Paralympic gold medals on his CV.

The first track final of the day will be the women’s 1500m T11. Dubai 2019 world champion Monica Rodriguez from Mexico will be battling for her first Paralympic medal against the likes of Kenya’s Nancy Koech and Poland’s Joanna Mazur.

Koech is the Rio 2016 Paralympic silver medallist and finished behind Rodriguez in Dubai taking bronze. Mazur won the world title at London 2017 and two months ago bagged another gold in the European Championships in her home country.

The men’s shot put F41 is set to be a very close competition with four names standing out. Germany’s Niko Kappel is the defending Paralympic champion and gold medallist at the London 2017 Worlds.

He lost his world title at Dubai 2019 settling for silver behind world record holder Bobirjon Omonov from Uzbekistan.

Poland’s Bartosz Tyszkowski took silver five years ago in Rio but beat Kappel in June to take gold in the European Championships.

Another men’s event will follow with the 100m T33 and 100m T34. Kuwait’s Ahmad Almutairi is the name to beat in the T33 class with an impressive CV. He is the defending Paralympic champion, the world record holder and a three-time world champion.

The men’s 100m T34 has also been dominated by a single athlete, in this case Tunisia’s Walid Ktila. Since London 2012 he has won every final whether it is in the Paralympic Games or the World Championships.

Australia’s Rheed McCracken has finished second to Ktila in all but one of those events.

Monday morning will also see the women’s shot put F54 with an interesting battle between the Paralympic champion from London 2012 and Rio 2016 Liwan Yang from China and Francisca Mardones from Chile.

The former wheelchair tennis player Mardones is the world record holder and Dubai 2019 world champion heading to her first Games in Para athletics.

The men’s javelin F46 will be the last final in the morning session and one that India has high expectations for.

The country counts with the defending champion and world record holder Devendra Jhajharia and also with the London 2017 and Dubai 2019 world champion Sundar Singh Gurjar.

Ajeet Singh completes the trio of Indian athletes in the event. Do not be surprised if you see a clean podium sweep.

Afternoon session

Another javelin event opens the afternoon session and India is again the favourite to top the podium. Sandeep Sandeep is the current world champion in the men’s javelin F64 while Sumit Sumit is the world record holder.

Sandeep beat Sumit for gold at Dubai 2019 in a one-two Indian podium.

The first track final on Monday afternoon will be the men’s T35. Ukraine’s Ihor Tsvietov was the clear favourite for gold until the European Championships which took place in Bydgoszcz, Poland in June.

The defending Paralympic champion and two-time world champion, he finished in third place in the Euros where two RPC athletes tied for the gold medal with a world record performance, Dmitrii Safronov and Artem Kalashian.

Tsvietov beat both at Dubai 2019, with Kalashian taking silver and Safronov bronze.

The women’s discus throw F53 is likely to see Brazil or Ukraine on the top of the podium. Brazilian thrower Elizabeth Gomes finished ahead of world record holder Iana Lebiedieva for gold at the Dubai 2019 World Championships.

But Lebiedieva is coming to Tokyo in great form following her successful defence of the European Championships gold at Bydgoszcz 2021.

The outcome of the men’s long jump T36 is harder to predict. RPC’s Evgenii Torsunov is the world record holder and current world champion from Dubai 2019.

Ukraine’s Roman Pavlyk has a Paralympic gold from London 2012 and a silver from Rio 2016 to his name while Brazil’s Rodrigo Parreira finished with a silver medal in all major championships since Rio 2016.

Ending with the sprint

The last three competitions on 30 August are all male events. First the men’s shot put F11 in which Iran’s Mahdi Olad will line up as the current world champion from Dubai 2019.

Croatia’s Miljenko Vucic finished with silver in Dubai and has just taken gold in the European Championships in Poland in June.

The shot put will be followed by two men’s 100m finals with German sprinters among the favourites to medal.

Germany’s Leon Schaefer and Brazil’s Vinicius Rodrigues will be aiming to beat world champion Daniel Wagner in the 100m T63 final.

Then the blade runners battle will continue with the men’s 100m T64 final. London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympic champion Jonnie Peacock from Great Britain has not competed in a major championships since his gold at the London 2017 World Championships.

The current man to beat in the race is Germany’s Johannes Floors, the Dubai 2019 world champion and world record holder.

Dutch teenage talent Olivier Hendriks is the European champion from Bydgoszcz 2021 and will be targeting his first final in his Paralympic debut.

Complete schedule and results can be found on Paralympic.org.