7th September 2024

Okoh advances to first final as Skinner and Towers just miss medals

Didi Okoh set a Paralympic record on the way to her debut Paralympic final in the women’s T63 100m as there were near-misses in the two morning finals.

Okoh (Joe McDonnell, Chelmsford) was the final Brit to make her Paris 2024 bow at the Stade de France but came through her heat in third place with a T42 Paralympic record.

Zak Skinner finished fourth in the men’s T13 long jump while Isaac Towers came sixth in his third consecutive men’s T34 800m final.

Okoh, who is competing with the T63 class as a T42 athlete, set a new Paralympic Record for the 100m in the T42 with a time of 14.69.

She took 0.07 seconds off her personal best to reach the final on her Paralympic debut, before her record was broken in the next heat.

Okoh competes at 20:37 BST this evening in the final event on the track for ParalympicsGB.

Skinner (Aston Moore, Birchfield Harriers) recorded a second consecutive fourth-place finish in the men’s T13 long jump final at a Paralympics.

His best jump of 6.83 saw him miss the podium as Orkhan Aslanov of Azerbaijan took gold with a jump of 7.29.

Skinner said: “It sucks, I have been here before, I did it in Tokyo so at least I am consistent.

“It hurts but I got beaten and that is fine. Those boys were better than me and I wasn’t able to respond.

“I couldn’t produce anything better, I left everything out there, did everything that was needed of me and that is fine.

“I didn’t expect bronze to be so high but I expected those distances and I had prepared for that.

“I knew it was going to be 7.30ish for gold and I did everything I could do.”

Towers (Pete Wyman, Kirkby AC) defied dizziness and injury to claim sixth in the men’s T34 800m final at Paris 2024.

The Catterall native had made it through to his third straight Paralympic final in the event despite dealing with several health issues in the build up to his race,

Towers produced a late surge to climb up to sixth place, his second-best finish in the 800m at a Games.

“Given the week we’ve had, I’ll take it,” Towers said. “Obviously, naturally the competitor in me always wants more.

“But given the challenges we’ve had, I will definitely take it.

“I’ve had a bit of shoulder trouble and headaches and dizziness and one thing and another.

“But it is all part of the game. It was just working through it and I would just like to say, thank you to the medical staff that have kept me going, they’ve been a great help to me.”