T53 WORLD RECORD FALLS TO SAMMI KINGHORN IN SHARJAH

Sammi Kinghorn (coach: Rodger Harkins, club: Red Star) starred at the Sharjah Open Meeting in the United Arab Emirates as she broke the T53 1500m world record on Monday (5), while she also lowered her PBs over 400m and 800m.

With several wheelchair racers kickstarting their 2024 seasons at the competition in Dubai, double Paralympic medallist Sammi Kinghorn was on top form across the three days of action.

The most sublime performance was the 3:07.53 clocking over 1500m, which lowered the previous world record and improved her best time by two seconds. In a superb race with Catherine Debrunner (SUI) – the previous world record holder – the Scottish athlete came out on top by a narrow 0.04s margin to take a highly encouraging win alongside the record-breaking feat.

This performance had followed a British record in the 800m the day prior, where she posted a time of 1:41.50, the fastest time ever by a British female wheelchair racer. On the final day of action, she also lowered her 400m best to 51.65 to complete an impressive series.

There were PBs for a number of athletes including Mel Woods (Rodger Harkins, Red Star) in the T54 400m [53.96] and 1500m [3:16.78] and Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Arno Mul, Red Velvet Racing Team) in the T54 1500m [3:18.47].

Danny Sidbury (Chris Parsloe, Sutton & District) and Nathan Maguire (Steven Hoskins, Kirkby AC) were second and fourth in the highly competitive men’s T54 1500m, posting world class times of 1:29.63 and 1:30.26 respectively.

In the same race, David Weir (Jenny Archer, Weir Archer Academy) lowered his personal best to 1:30.45 and also improved his 1500m PB to 2:50.61 at the competition.

In the final event of the competition, there was also a PB for Weir [9:48.61] as he took the race win, with Nathan Maguire second with a lifetime best of 9:50.23 with Michael McCabe (Chris Parsloe, Sutton & District) and JohnBoy Smith (Chris Parsloe, Sutton & District) also a lowering their bests to 9:53.43 and 10:32.50 respectively. Sidbury clocked 9:37.87 in heat two for fourth in that race.

Multiple Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft (Paul Moseley, Leeds) began her 2024 campaign with strong performances across the board, recording times of 17.39 (-1.0), in the T34 100m, 53.19 in the 400m, and 1:47.63 over 400m.

Results

The athletes will compete at the first World Para Athletics Grand Prix of the season which starts in Dubai on Monday 12 February through to the Thursday 15 February.