British success in Kobe

Over the last week, some of Britain’s best para-athletes have been at the World Championships in Kobe, Japan. It has been a fantastic week of outstanding performances and medals which acts as a perfect warm-up for the big event in Paris this summer. Here’s how the English athletes got on.

Wheelchair racing

Yorkshire’s Hannah Cockroft (Leeds City AC, Paul Moseley) has certainly asserted her dominance as she claimed her staggering 16th world title on the penultimate night of action in Kobe in the T34 800m. Not only did Cockroft take the double gold, but she also set her second championship record of the week in the T34 800m (1:52.79) after her outstanding 100m (16.67) qualification earlier in the week. Speaking about her new title tally, Hannah said:

"16 world titles are like one world title for every year I have been racing so I am very happy. To go out [in the 800m] and get a good start and relax – something which I don’t feel like I did so well in the heat yesterday – I’m not upset with a 1:52 and Championship record in mid-May. There is a lot of work to do, so I can only get faster from here. It is the perfect ending, and it has given me a massive confidence booster ahead of the rest of the year and the Paralympic Games."

England’s Fabienne Andre (Richard Chiassaro, Harlow) finished in a fantastic fourth in both the T34 100m and the T34 800m, with an error at the start of her 800m race. As a young athlete, it has been a fantastic learning opportunity ahead of a busy summer.

After cruising through the first round of the T54 400m, Nathan Maguire (Kirkby AC, Ste Hoskins) faced very different conditions in the final from beautiful sunshine to torrential rain. Battling throughout, Maguire was just edged into 6th place over the line in a time of 46.86. In the T54 1500m, Nathan managed to go one better, finishing 5th in a highly competitive and tactical final. In his final race of the championship, Nathan made it one to remember as he battled through a quick paced T54 800m final and with the most impressive of sprint finishes, pipped the Kuwait athlete on the line to take his very first world medal in 3rd place.

Marcus Perrineau-Daley (Weir Archer Academy, Jenny Archer) just missed out on a place in the T52 100m final after finishing 6th in his heat with a season’s best of 18.36.

Speed

The 100m sprinters were in action as Kevin Santos (City of Norwich, Mike Utting), Zac Shaw (Cleethorpes AC, Leon Baptiste) and Thomas Young (Loughborough Students, Joe McDonnell) toed the line. Cruising through the qualification stages, it was an 8th place finish for Santos in the T47 event with 11.14. Zac Shaw fought hard in his T12 final to take third spot on the podium with Young adding another medal to the British tally as he claimed silver in the T38 event. Looking forward to the summer, Young said:

"I would’ve loved to have got the win, but we have got Paris in a couple of months’ time so that is the main focus of the year, but that was a brilliant run today. It was an unbelievable race to be a part of. The T38 class is so strong right now, so to be involved in the medals is incredible."

Over the T53 400m, England Athletics Senior Programme athlete Mo Jomni (Weir Archer Academy, Jenny Archer) later bettering this position to finish 4th in the T53 800m. It was a fantastic achievement for the Surrey athlete as he competed in his first world final since 2015. Ali Smith (Guildford & Godalming, Benke Blomkvist) did the double representing across both the T38 100m and 400m. After thinking her career was over last year, Smith managed to finish in 7th place in the 100m final.

In the T20 400m event, Columba Blango unfortunately just missed out on a spot in the final after finishing 4th in his heat, an agonising 0.01 away from the qualification place.

The British quartet of team captain’s Ali Smith and Zac Shaw, alongside Hannah Cockroft (Leeds City, Paul Moseley) and Kevin Santos were representing in the 4x100m universal relay. With three medals already to their names heading into the relay final, it was all to play for. Shaw got a fantastic start on the opening leg before handing to Santos who produced a solid run along the backstraight before passing to Smith. The T38 athlete blasted around the first bend as eventual winners China started to pull away. Over to Cockroft, the Chinese were unfortunately not within reach, but the team clocked a very impressive time of 47:50 to claim the silver medal. Speaking on his experience in the relay team, Shaw said:

"I love the relay so much and I love this team so much. Genuinely, I don’t know what to say, I’m just buzzing we’ve won a silver. From lane one to run 47.50, three tenths off the European record when it’s that windy in May, is really good. We have a WhatsApp group called ‘Project Gold’ for the Paralympics, so let’s verbalise it now, that’s what we are going for there."

Throws

The throwers had a sensational championship out in Kobe with Welsh woman Sabrina Fortune not only claiming gold in the F20 shot put, but also setting a brand-new world record in the process of 14.73m. Later in the week it was the return of the Welsh shot putters as Aled Davies claimed his staggering tenth world title in the F63 event winning by over one metre with a best throw of 15.54m.

England’s Dan Pembroke (Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow, John Trower) had the added pressure of being the reigning F13 javelin world champion but took it completely in his stride as he threw a fantastic 66.96m to not only open his season, but to lay down a marker ahead of Paris and take the world title. After the competition Dan reflected:

"This was my season opener, so I knew it would be a bit sketchy, but during the first few sets of throws, I was telling myself 'Come on, you’ve got more than this.' That last throw I managed to get 66.96m which got the job done, so I was happy to make that gap between first and second even wider which is what we like."

Welsh woman Hollie Arnold also had an outstanding series of throws to take her sixth F46 javelin world title.

Jumps

Jonathan Broom-Edwards leapt to great heights of 2.04m in the men’s T64 high jump to collect his third world title. Maintaining a clean card throughout the competition, it was not until 2.07m that the Newham and Essex Beagles athlete started to falter. Unable to clear that height, he took the title on countback, with USA’s Derek Loccident in second place.

More para action coming up

In June we’re excited to be sending our first England para representative teams to the Nottwil and Paris Grand Prix! See the team selections.

All images provided by International Paralympic Committee