Britain halted in their medal pursuit

By Daniel Mcinally

 

Day five of the IPC World Para Athletics Championships promised so much after the success of day four, however team GB struggled to maintain their dominance inside London Stadium. Valiant efforts from Sabrina Fortune and Polly Maton were not enough to get Great Britain back on top of the medal table.

Sabrina was hoping to build on her successful outing at the Rio Paralympics, where she was able to win a Bronze medal, however the 20-year-old finished sixth in the F20 Shot Put. There was a feeling disappointed after her brilliant first shot. After the Shot-Put event, she came out in defiant mood

“The crowd was fantastic, and my family was here cheering me on,” she said.

“Tokyo is the next big one, we and we have three big years to prepare, congratulations to the ones who won today, they deserved it.”

Fellow Team GB athlete Polly Maton was in upbeat mood after a season’s best time of 13.44. Although she finished fifth in the T47 100m.

“After a few problems with my calf, to be out here running in this incredible stadium with this great support. Hopefully I can keep progressing and target Tokyo 2020.”

In the final medal event of the day the T53 200m British duo Richard Chiassaro and Nathan Maguire failed to win a medal, Chiassaro was particularly unlucky after missing out on bronze by a 0.07.

Finally it wouldn’t be a World Championships without a world record broken, and that’s exactly what The American, Jean-Paul Isaac done, nailing 2.17 metres. The reward? USA are now level with Chinaa for most gold medals (14) Britain slip to third with 11.