Oscar shines on at Diamond League

Paul Carter

Oscar Pistorius moved a step closer to competing at the Commonwealth Games against non-disabled athletes after setting a new 400m world record at the Diamond League event at Crystal Palace.

The South African sprinter set his fastest mark in a non-disabled race on the first day of the event, finishing seventh in a time of 46.93.

On day two, in a disability race, Pistorius dominated the field in a time of 47.04, four and a half seconds ahead of Great Britain’s Ian Jones, and still inside the previous world best of 47.49 he set on his way to winning Paralympic gold inside the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing in 2008.

However the faster time will not stand, as the non-disabled race was not sanctioned by the International Paralympic Committee, meaning the record cannot be ratified.

Pistorius said: “I’m super happy. After yesterday’s race, it was really difficult today. I’m happy to have run decent times back to back. Being in London is unbelievable.

“We are going to have to get used to these conditions for London 2012 but the crowds here are amazing. Today I went out hard, maybe a bit too ballsy, but yesterday I started too slow. I’m happier with today’s race. It’s great to have these Paralympics events at the London Grand Prix.”

South Africa Athletics have set a mark of 45.95 for Pistorius to meet to qualify to run against non-disabled athletes at this autumn’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi, just 0.07 seconds short of his personal best of 46.02 – another unratified time set against non-disabled opponents.

As the Commonwealth Games has no minimum qualifying standards, the 23-year-old will still be eligible to compete should his federation choose to include him in their squad when it is announced on 25 August.

Also featuring at the Diamond League event was double Paralympic gold medalist David Weir, who lined up in an impressive T54 1500m field that also featured Switzerland’s Marcel Hug, who finished ahead of Weir at the Paralympic World Cup over both 800m and 1500m earlier this year.

World record holder Weir had to settle for silver again with Hug taking gold. In front of an enthusiastic home crowd, Weir looked well placed for a sprint finish as he tracked Hug in the closing stages.

However, Hug’s wide final line around the top bend meant Weir could not use the slipstream release to overtake, and was forced to finish second in a time of 3:15.09, with Hug crossing in 3:14.68.

Richard Coleman of Australia finished third in 3:20.64, with Brian Alldis finishing fifth.

Beijing Paralympic silver medallist Libby Clegg took gold in a combined T12/T44 classification race over 100m, fending off a strong challenge from Stefanie Reid who is fresh from a T44 world long jump record set at last week’s McCain Jumpsfest event.

As it was, Clegg had the strength to take victory by almost a second in 12.72, with Reid taking third in 13.69  behind American April Holmes who took silver in 14.09.