Dubai: China held on to top spot in the medals standings followed by Ukraine and Brazil as Great Britain rode on a superb effort from Hannah Cockroft to climb to fourth at the end of the fourth day of the Dubai 2019 World Para Athletics Championships being held at the Dubai Club for People of Determination (DCPD).
China added another four golds and five silvers to their overnight haul of six gold and six silvers and take their tally to 26, while Ukraine displaced Brazil in second place with another four golds. The south Americans managed a couple of golds to stay in third overall.
Leading the Chinese domination was Xiaoyan Wen in the women’s long jump T37 as she bettered her own world record with a leap of 5.22 metres. Her teammates Fenfen Jiang had earlier won the women’s 400-metre T37 in a new time of 1:02.90, while Yuping Zhao hurled the spear to a new world distance of 46.00-metre in the women’s javelin F12 category. Zao Qian had set a new Asian record on her way to a bronze for China in the women’s javelin F33.
The day, however, belonged to Great Britain’s ‘Hurricane Hannah’ as the 27-year-old from Halifax won her fifth straight world crown with a time of 16.77 secs to break teammate Kare Adenegan’s world record of 16.80 secs set in July last year. Born on July 30, 1992, Cockroft suffered two cardiac arrests at birth that damaged two different parts of her brain and left her with a disability that affected her balance and mobility along with weak hips and deformed feet and legs.
But the athlete has more than compensated with five gold medals in various distances in wheelchair racing at successive 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games.
The day also witnessed other nations excel with a few world records falling. The men’s 100-metre T64 heats were no less than a final with South Africa’s Mpumelelo Mhlongo bettering his own world mark in the T44 category with a time of 11.09 secs, while Germany’s Johannes Floors set a new world record in the T64 category with a time of 10.54 secs.
Among other top performers were Ukraine’s Roman Danyliuk, who bettered his own world record in the men’s shot put F12 final with a heave of 16.69 metres to finish ahead of Spain’s Kim Lopez Gonzalez (15.69 metres) and Uzbekistan’s Elbek Sultonov (15.39 metres).
The UAE also bagged their second medal with Mohammad Al Hammadi coming in third in the men’s 100-metre T34 in a time of 15.93 secs behind Tunisian legend Walid Ktila (14.99 secs) and Australian Rheed McCracken (15.51 secs).
Jordan’s Ahmad Hindi showed good form while setting a new world mark in the men’s shotput F34 with a throw of 12.17 metres, while James Turner broke Mohammad Puzi’s world record in men’s 100-metre T36 in a new time of 11.72 secs.
