GB medal haul lifts 2012 hopes

Great Britain’s athletes restored their position as a leading force in world elite disability athletics with a series of outstanding performances at the IPC World Athletics Championships in New Zealand.

Team GB’s shining light once again proved to be Paralympic champion David Weir, who picked up three golds at the championships.

It was a blistering return to form for the 31-year-old Londoner, who looks to have regained his position as the world’s top wheelchair racer after a difficult two years in which he has struggled with illness and injury.

Weir took gold in the T54 800m, 1500m and 5000m, while there were other notable gold medal performances from rising GB stars including Libby Clegg, Mickey Bushell, Hannah Cockroft and Bethany Woodward.

After a disappointing track and field performance at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008, with Weir GB’s only gold medallist, the team’s performance in Christchurch showed that the GB team has strong foundations to build from as London 2012 approaches.

GB came third in the medal table overall with an impressive haul of 38 medals, made up of 12 gold, 9 silver and 17 bronze. China topped the chart, with Russia in second place.

Despite only setting one new world record at the championships – Dan Greaves in the F44 discus – TeamGB performed above expectations, pleasing Head Coach Peter Eriksson.

He said: “We won 27 medals in the last edition of the IPC Athletics World Championships in Assen, Netherlands in 2006 with a haul of nine gold, nine silver and nine bronze, but the most important benchmark for us coming into this was our 18th-place team finish [in athletics] in the Beijing Paralympic Games two years ago.

“We came out here knowing that a top-10 finish in the medal table would be a step in the right direction and having finished third on the medal table behind two of the world’s leading nations in Paralympic track and field, I’m absolutely delighted.

“Our more experienced athletes have, in the main, continued to deliver medals at the highest level while our junior athletes – many of whom were here for high-quality competition experience – have proved that while Rio 2016 may be their realistic target, London 2012 is very much a possibility, and a podium one at that.

“Overall we’re starting to see the gradual transition to a much more professional squad with a fantastic team spirit and it’s paid off. I’m confident that our success will now continue through to London.”

However, there was controversy in the closing stages of the competition after a host of athletes, including David Weir and Shelly Woods, were forced to withdraw from the marathon because of serious safety concerns, meaning that both former London Marathon winners, were unable to add to their medal tally.

Several racers withdrew at the last minute after learning that organisers had failed to implement road closures on the route of the marathon, meaning that athletes would have been sharing road surfaces with moving traffic.

With wheelchair racers often hitting speeds of up to 35mph, and because of their low racing positions, many felt the risk too great.

Eriksson said:“After a hugely successful World Championships overall for the team, we fully support their decision, although obviously the athletes and UK Athletics as a whole are disappointed that they can’t show what great form they’re in. Safety, however, is paramount, and with less than 600 days to go to the London 2012 Paralympic Games this presents a danger we are not prepared to take.”

Elsewhere, the championships marked the first competitive defeat over 100m in seven years for South African Oscar Pistorius, who was beaten in a dramatic dip for the line by American rival Jerome Singleton, who subsequently took a hard fall to the track, suffering multiple grazes.

Singleton said: “This is an unbelievably great feeling.

“It’s been a long time coming for the U.S. to reclaim the gold in this event and I’m blessed to add my name to the greats who have come before me.”

Pistorius went on to claim three golds to add to his 100m silver, winning the 200m, 400m, and the 4x100m relay.