World’s best Para athletes set for Müller Anniversary Games

The world’s best Para athletes will compete in the IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final on the Saturday (23 July) of the Müller Anniversary Games. The IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final will take place between 12:00-14:00 before the IAAF Diamond League gets underway shortly after 14:00, offering spectators two events within one ticket.

Five of Great Britain’s 2012 Paralympic gold medallists will line up at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with Hannah Cockroft in the 100m T34, David Weir in the 1,500m T54 and Jonnie Peacock in the 100m T44 amongst the stand out British competitors. Whilst for many in the field this will be a last chance to secure Rio qualification.

International stars of the Paralympic Movement will also come to London, just over a month before the Paralympic Games take place in Rio de Janeiro.

Current Paralympic and European champion Richard Whitehead lines up in the 200m T42 after winning last weekend in an unofficial world record time of 23.40. He faces number two ranked South African Ntando Mahlangu, a man 25 years his junior.

British Para sport legend David Weir will renew his rivalry with wheelchair racing heavyweight Marcel Hug once more at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the 1,500m T54. Weir, a four time gold medallist from London 2012, also faces up against 200m European gold medallist Richard Chiassaro.

London 2012 silver medallist, Dan Greaves, throws against two in form Americans in the F43/44 discus. Jeremy Campbell is the current world champion whilst newcomer David Blair, who only started competing in 2015, already holds the world record throw of 63.61m.

Reigning Paralympic and European champion over 100m Jonnie Peacock faces the form sprinter of 2016, Jarryd Wallace, in the 100m T44. Wallace has consistently gone under 11 seconds this year, but it Peacock leads the world rankings after setting a new European record of 10.68 on Saturday 16 July. Also in the race are Germany’s European silver medallist Felix Streng and South African Arnu Fourie who ran a sub eleven race just last year.

T43 athlete Marlou Van Rhijn competes in the 100m sprint at the venue where she won 200m gold and 100m silver at London 2012. The Dutch woman has dominated the sprints in the last year winning both the 100m and 200m World Championships gold. She will face Britons Laura Sugar and Sophie Kamlish.

Markus Rehm, the world record holder in the long jump T44 with a distance of 8.40m, is one of the most high-profile names in Paralympic sport and the German will also compete in London, with the T42/44 long jump getting underway at 12:43.

Reigning World Champion Joanna Butterfield leads the women’s field events as she competes in the club throw F32/51. The current world record holder with a throw of 22.75m faces up against American pair Cassie Mitchell and Rachael Morrison, second and third in the world rankings respectively and compatriot Abbie Hunnisett from the F32 class.