SOUTH African star Oscar Pistorius stole the show with an explosive T42/43/44 200m performance on a day where World Records fell at the BT Paralympic World Cup.
Pistorius, who owns World Records and Paralympic golds in the 100m, 200m and 400m competitions, defended his BT Paralympic World Cup title with ease, showing just how strong a contender he is for multiple Paralympic glory.
The 25-year-old, who is also a BT Ambassador, believes the support of the 5,000 strong Manchester Regional Arena was the catalyst for his win and says the event can be the fuel to fire him to glory in London.
He said: “I think everything went according to plan, there wasn’t one aspect of the race that went badly. I came out of the blocks comfortably, accelerated neatly, my angles on the corners were fine and the home straight was neat but I felt maybe I could have gone a bit quicker but I really enjoyed the competition.
“It is always a great pleasure to come here and start my season off, every year we come up to Manchester for the BT Paralympic World Cup which is always the opener for me. It was a great opening race and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to settle in nicely after this.”
Pistorius, who opted out of competing in the 100m, to concentrate on his 200m efforts, must have been screaming with delight when he saw good friend and star Brit Jonnie Peacock racing to a new British Record in the T42/43/44 100m.
Peacock dashed to victory in spectacular fashion, setting the new British record of 11.32secs with apparent ease and raising the press box to applause.
Peacock said: “I am really happy with today, I couldn’t really have hoped for anything better than that result. Today was great to get some more race experience as that is what we really learn from. The crowd here today and the reception we got was amazing and that is great experience to take with me to the next event.”
If these performance weren’t enough, spectators at Manchester Regional Arena were also witness to four stunning world record- breaking performances from Great Britain’s Graeme Ballard, USA’s Jeremy Campbell and a superb double in the Women’s T42/43/44 100m.
The event burst to life in the very first minute when Ballard, a Paralympic bronze medallist from Athens, set a new world record en route to victory in the T36 100m.
His time of 11.98secs beat the previous five-year standing time of 12.15secs and Ballard, who later took a second gold medal in the T36 200m, couldn’t hide his excitement.
Ballard said: “I didn’t expect a world record today it was great to go that fast, my preparations have been going really well to date so today has set me up well for the season ahead.”
And later in the competition, the discus competition was thrown on its head when Campbell, who was representing the Americas, threw 62.18m to set a new World Record.
Campbell’s effort smashed the previous best of 59.98m, set by BT Paralympic World Cup rival Dan Greaves on his gold-winning surge at the IPC World Championships last year in New Zealand.
Greaves, who has set three World Records at this event in the past, was forced to settle for silver with a distance of 56.88m, but while disappointed, remained pragmatic about his performance.
Greaves said: “Technically it wasn’t quite right, it was a slight blip and I wasn’t lining up the discus right. It’s the sort of thing that is really frustrating when you do it every day in training. It’s one of those things but this is not the main goal. London 2012 is the real goal for me so I’m just going to stay positive and focus on what we are doing and all the speed stuff we put in should pay dividends come London.
“It’s the first big one I’ve had so I’d have liked to get closer to a personal best. Last year I got the world record but it was coming back off a world record in New Zealand and a short period of rest whereas this time we are peaking towards September. I’d love to double up and peak now and in September but it’s all about peaking for London.”
In the women’s T42/43/44 100m, Marlou van Rhijn broke the T43 World Record with a time of 13.58secs, while Martina Caironi did the same in the T42 with 16.25secs.
The race was ultimately won by American April Holmes, with Brit Stef Reid coming in third.
Van Rhijn later won the T42/43/44 200m in 28.75secs, with Reid and fellow Brit and team debutant Sophie Kramlish coming second and third respectively.
Kramlish, a part of Youth Sport Trust’s Playground to Podium scheme, is the first athlete to come through the scheme to get a GB vest.
Fresh from breaking her own World Record two weeks ago, queen of wheelchair racing Hannah Cockroft once again took the spoils in a fantastic T34 100m performance.
Cockroft flew off the line immediately leaving the rest of the field in her wake to finish in yet another sub-20 second time of 19.46secs.
The 19-year-old said: “The competition today saw me racing against the best of the best with the world number two here too. But to come almost three seconds ahead of her has put me in a good place mentally which is great. My time is continually coming down at the moment which is great and I am achieving what I set out to do this season already.
Katrina Hart, another reigning World Champion amongst Great Britain’s ranks, took two gold medals in what was an outstanding day at the track for the Birmingham-born athlete.
Hart opened her gold account in the T37 100m with a time of 14.43secs, before topping the podium once more with a time of 30.14secs in the T37 200m later in the afternoon.
Richard Chiassaro continued the British success with gold in the T53/54 100m in a time of 15.04secs, beating fourth-placed Australian Richard Coleman, who earlier won the 400m equivalent in 51.75secs.
Tatyana McFadden continued her incredible form with double gold in the T53/54 400m and 800m, winning them in 55.53secs and 1:55.49 respectively.
Brazil’s Guilhermina Terezinha was another who took double gold in the T11/12 100m and 200m, with Brit Libby Clegg coming second each time around.
Jessica Galli took gold in the T53/54 100m, Josh Cassidy in the T53/54 800m and Rostislav Pohlmann beat Brit Nathan Stephens to gold in the F54/55/56/57/58 Seated Javelin Men.
The BT Paralympic World Cup is the largest annual international multi-sport competition in elite disability sport. BT is entering its fourth year as title sponsor, upholding its strong commitment to disability sport in the UK that stretches back over twenty years.
Manchester has committed for the eighth consecutive year to hosting elite international athletes competing across Wheelchair Basketball, Athletics and Football 7-a-side. In addition, Boccia will once again be represented, with an international match being staged during the competition.
The 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup will once again be broadcast by Channel 4. For more information about Channel 4’s Paralympic coverage, visit: www.channel4.com/paralympics.
The BT Paralympic World Cup is sanctioned by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) and supported by ParalympicsGB, BT and Manchester City Council.
Tickets for the BT Paralympic World Cup are on sale. For more information visit: www.btparalympicworldcup.com
The event schedule for the rest of the week see the Manchester Regional Arena host Wheelchair Basketball and Football 7-a-side on 23-26 May and the Boccia match on 24 May.
Liz Johnson has recently appeared in a new series of 90-second programmes on Channel 4. Catch her ‘Night Swimmer’ programme tonight on Channel 4 at 19:55. The films are produced in conjunction with BT. Channel 4 is the host broadcaster for the a London 2012 Paralympics Games. BT is the official communications services partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
