World champions back to competition mode

Paralympic Games medallists and Dubai 2019 world champions were back to competition mode in Great Britain and Japan during the weekend. 

The Manchester Regional Arena in England hosted the able-bodied British Athletics Championships on Friday and Saturday (4 and 5 September) in which Para-only events featured for the first time.

Five-time Paralympic champion and Dubai 2019 double world champion Hannah Cockroft claimed victory in the women’s 400m wheelchair race. 

A multi-class event, it provided a unique opportunity to see T34 athlete Cockroft and T53 Worlds medallist Sammi Kinghorn go head-to-head.

There was not much separating the pair heading onto the final bend, but Cockroft carried her momentum into the home straight, finishing strongly in a time of 1:00.18. 

Kinghorn crossed the line in second followed by T54 newcomer Melanie Woods.

“I wasn’t expecting to win that – Sammi is usually a fair way ahead of me over 400m. It shows lockdown training has gone well – even if it is the most creative I have ever done,” Cockroft told British Athletics. 

“I just needed this time to realise what we were missing – every year you come out and push yourself but when it was taken away I had time to stop and realise I do the most amazing thing in the world,” the Paralympic champion aadded.

In the women’s 100m multi-class T38 world champion Sophie Hahn took the gold medal (12.80). Another newcomer, T46 Simran Kaur finished second with Ali Smith (T38) third. 

On Saturday (5), a Canadian guest was the winner of the men’s 400m wheelchair race. Paralympic champion Brent Lakatos (T53) crossed the line ahead of Nathan Maguire (T54) and Dillon Labrooy (T54).

The men’s 100m saw a brilliant battle between Zach Shaw (T12) and Thomas Young (T38), but it was Shaw who finished first ahead of Young. Ola Abidogun (T47) was next to cross the line in third.

Nakanishi sets Asian record 

Kumagaya, located around 60km from central Tokyo, hosted the two-day Japan Para Athletics Championships over the weekend. 

The event was initially scheduled for May but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Amongst the highlights of the competition were Japan’s Dubai 2019 World Championships gold medallist, Tomoki Sato and Maya Nakanishi.

Nakanishi set a new Asian record in the women’s long jump T64 with 5.70, while Sato won the men’s 400m and 1500m T52.

In the women’s long jump T63, Worlds bronze medallist Tomomi Tozawa took the gold medal (4.29) ahead of London 2017 silver medallist Kaede Maegawa in second and Hitomi Onishi in third.

Paralympic and Worlds multi-medallist Atsushi Yamamoto won the men’s long jump T63 (6.49) leaving Junta Kosuda with silver and Katsuaki Inagaki with bronze.

In the track events, Dubai 2019 bronze medallist Kenya Karasawa crossed the line in first place in the men’s 5000m T11. Masahiro Taniguchi was second and Satoru Yoneoka third.

Rio 2016 and London 2017 bronze medallist Sae Shigemoto was the winner in the women’s 400m T47. 

Full results from Japan’s Para Athletics Championships can be found on http://sairiku.net/result/2020/R02_para/shtml/TimeTable.html (in Japanese).

All results from the British Athletics Championships are available on https://www.uka.org.uk/results/20200904_Manchester/timetable/index/.