4th September 2021
DAVIES CROWNED PARALYMPIC CHAMPION ONCE AGAIN TO ROUND OUT TRACK AND FIELD PROGRAMME
Aled Davies claimed his third consecutive Paralympic gold medal and dedicated the title to his family and friends back home.
Davies (coach: Ryan Spencer-Jones, club: Cardiff) secured his latest gold with an impressive throw of 15.33m – well ahead of Iran’s Sajad Mohammadian in second – to win back-to-back titles in the F63 shot put, adding to his discus gold from London 2012.
But this is his first Paralympic crown since the birth of his daughter Phoebe, battling terrible weather conditions to bring a golden prize back to his family.
“It’s surreal, there has been so much hard work to get here,” said the 30-year-old.
“It’s tough to win medals, you’ve got to appreciate them when they come, so that’s why I was soaking it all in at the end.
“The conditions were great up until a few days ago, which is a shame because I was ready to deliver a big performance but it doesn’t matter now, I’m going home with the colour of medal I came for.
“That’s for everyone; my whole team, my family, my friends, I’m just so happy that I could do the job.
“That’s what championship throwing is all about, adapting to the conditions in front of you.
“I’m still young in this sport, and I feel great and in the shape of my life, so Paris (2024) is my next stop, maybe even LA (2028) – I’m just getting started.”
On the track, Kadeena Cox (Matt Cullen, Sale Harriers Manchester) narrowly missed out on a hat-trick of Tokyo titles as she finished fourth in the T38 400m.
Cox had aimed to add another gold to her Tokyo cycling double, as well as retain her Paralympic 400m athletics title.
But it was not to be this time around with Germany’s Lindy Ave taking the win in a world record time of 1:00.00, while Cox finished in a season’s best time of 1:01.16.
She said: “I’ve had a really turbulent time but that’s the fastest I’ve run since Rio, which is pretty incredible.
“Fourth place is hard but I’m proud of myself but as an athlete you always want a medal and something to show for it.
“I came in really not sure how I’d perform but you want to be the athlete you know and I wanted to defend my title.
“I’m not disappointed, that time is amazing considering the challenges I had to get here.
“I’m very emotional right now, that was hard.”
Cox’s teammate Ali Smith (Benke Blomkvist, Guildford & Godalming) finished eighth in the 400m to clock 1:03.05 – but will leave Tokyo with a silver medal from the 4x100m universal relay.
The British medallists (24):
Gold (9):
Aled Davies – Men’s F63 Shot Put
Jonathan Broom-Edwards – Men’s T64 High Jump
Hannah Cockroft – Women’s T34 100m and 800m
Sophie Hahn – Women’s T38 100m
Owen Miller- Men’s T20 1500m
Dan Pembroke – Men’s F13 Javelin
Andrew Small – Men’s T33 100m
Thomas Young – Men’s T38 100m
Silver (5):
Kare Adenegan – Women’s T34 100m and 800m
Sammi Kinghorn – Women’s T53 400m
Richard Whitehead – Men’s T61 200m
Libby Clegg, Jonnie Peacock, Ali Smith, Nathan Maguire – 4x100m Universal Relay
Bronze (10):
Hollie Arnold – Women’s F46 Javelin
Columba Blango – Men’s T20 400m
Olivia Breen – Women’s T38 Long Jump
Dan Greaves – Men’s F64 Discus
Harri Jenkins – Men’s T33 100m
Sammi Kinghorn – Women’s T53 100m
Maria Lyle – Women’s T35 100m and 200m
Jonnie Peacock – Men’s T64 100m
Hannah Taunton – Women’s T20 1500m