Para-athletes lead way for Otago

Edward Osei-Nketia. Photo: Getty Images
Edward Osei-Nketia. Photo: Getty Images
Otago's para-athletes have made a strong showing at the Australian athletics championships.

They led the way for the contingent from the South competing in Sydney at the championships which concluded yesterday.

Holly Robinson was to the fore in the para-javelin with a remarkable 45.73m.

That set a women's F46 world record and was also good enough to claim gold.

She finished with a 106.29%, ahead of Samantha Schmidt, who had 83.38%.

The percentage refers to how close the throw was to their classification's world record.

That is used to determine the winner, as all classifications compete together at the championships.

Jess Hamill also claimed gold in the secured para-shot put.

Her throw of 7.22m left her with a final result of 82.51%, edging New South Wales' Rosemary Little's 80.53%.

Anna Grimaldi bagged bronze medals in the 100m and long jump.

Her qualifying time of 12.79sec in the 100m took another 0.02sec off her national T47 record.

She followed that with 12.89sec in the final, coming in a close third at 92.70%.

In the long jump, her leap of 5.14m gave her an 85.52% result.

However, she was unable to compete with New South Wales' Summer Giddings' T/F35 world record of 3m and 112.78%.

In the under-20 para-javelin, Ben Baines threw 28.42m to win silver with 63.90%, while in the under-18 100m Liam Wilson was third in 13.72sec and 94.24%.

Tori Peeters was the best of the open category competitors, claiming a bronze in the senior women's javelin.

Her throw of 56.49m was 6m back from the two leaders, but close to her national record of 57m.

Dyani Shepherd-Oates also had a strong outing, finishing fourth in the under-20 hammer with a throw of 48.75m.

Young New Zealander Edward Osei-Nketia was another to impress.

The 17-year-old ran 10.19sec in his 100m semifinal and followed that with 10.22sec to win gold in the open men's final.

That leaves him only 0.08sec off the New Zealand record set by his father, Gus Nketia.

He is now fourth on the all-time rankings, also behind Chris Donaldson and Joseph Millar.

 

Add a Comment