CLEGG & CLARKE AND SHAW ADVANCE TO FINALS ON LAST DAY OF EUROPEAN PARA ATHLETICS CHAMPS

Libby Clegg and Chris Clark, and Zac Shaw moved through to their finals, and Anna Nicholson finished fourth in the F35 shot put, on the final morning session at the European Para Athletics Championships

Running together for only the second time in five years, Libby Clegg (coach: Joe McDonnell, club: Charnwood) and Chris Clarke advanced to the final of the women’s T11 200m in a time of 27.70 (1.8).

The pair finished narrowly ahead of Italian duo, Arjola Dedaj and guide, Andrea Rigobello to make their way into the final at 18:25 BST.

Clegg said afterwards, “I’ve struggled for motivation this year, so it is great to come out here and do that heat. It gives me an idea of where I am at and what I need to do leading into Tokyo qualification. I’m very happy that we are through.

“It’s been a rough five years for us (as a running pair), so it is great just to be back showing some presence again.

“I’m happy to be on this team and seeing the development athletes coming through so it has been a good championship so far.”

In the women’s F35 shot put final, Anna Nicholson (Richard Kaufman, Gateshead) placed fourth overall. After a foul on her first attempt, she then threw three consecutive marks in the high six metre mark.

On her fifth effort, the shot went out to 7.13m which was the best mark of her series. Ukraine’s Mariia Pomazan won the event with a Championship record of 12.81m.

Earlier in the programme, Zac Shaw (Leon Baptiste, Cleethorpes) ran a superb race as he clocked an equal personal best of 11.10 (0.9 m/s) in the men’s T12 100m heats and qualified through to this evening’s final at 19:06 BST.

After being an integral member of the silver-medal winning 4x100m Universal Relay team on Friday evening, Shaw returned to the track as the sun beamed down on the blue surface.

He started strongly out of the blocks and was level with Roman Tarasov until the 60 metres mark. However, the Russian just opened a narrow margin in the final few strides to take the automatic qualification spot in 11.02 and leave Shaw waiting to see if he would progress as the one next fastest qualifier. However, after the completion of the three heats, he was fourth fastest overall so he moved into the final.

Unfortunately, there were three no jumps for Barney Corrall (Chris Sinclair, Charnwood) in the men’s T37 Long Jump, so he exited the competition after three rounds.

The World Para Athletics Junior champion was very close on the board on each of his fouls, but ultimately finished ninth overall.

Results can be found at https://www.paralympic.org/bydgoszcz-2021/results

The event is live streamed on the Channel 4 Para Sport website: https://paralympics.channel4.com

British medallists (29):

Gold (9): Fabienne André [Women’s T34 100m], Columba Blango [Men’s T20 400m], Kayleigh Haggo [Women’s RR3 100m], Sophie Hahn [Women’s T38 100m], Maria Lyle [Women’s T35 200m], Daniel Pembroke [Men’s F13 Javelin], Zak Skinner [Men’s T13 100m], Rafi Solaiman [Men’s RR3 100m], Thomas Young [Men’s T38 100m],

Silver (9): John Bridge [Men’s T47 400m], Jonathan Broom-Edwards [Men’s T42/44/62/64 High Jump], Shaun Burrows [Men’s T38 400m], Lydia Church [Women’s F12 Shot Put], Kyron Duke [Men’s F41 Shot Put], Dan Greaves [Men’s F64 Discus], Danny Sidbury [Men’s T54 1500m], Vanessa Wallace [Women’s F34 Shot Put], 4x100m Universal Relay

Bronze (11): Ola Abidogun [Men’s T47 100m], Olivia Breen [Women’s T38 Long Jump], Nathan Maguire [Men’s T54 400m and 800m], Polly Maton [T47 Long Jump], Luke Nuttall [Men’s T46 1500m], Stef Reid [Women’s T64 Long Jump], Luke Sinnott [Men’s T63 Long Jump], Emily Stewart [Women’s F38 Discus], Alexander Thomson [Men’s T38 400m], Harrison Walsh [Men’s F64 Discus]