Paralympic News

World Record for Reid

Paralympic Games bronze medallist Stefanie Reid has jumped to a new F44 World Record in the Long Jump with a lifetime best of 5.05m (+0.2m/s) in London today (Saturday 7 August), subject to ratification.

The US-based athlete, who finished third over 200m in the 2008 Beijing Games, has already achieved the IPC World Championships ‘A’ qualification standard for the long jump courtesy of a 4.85m effort in the UKA Disability Athletics Challenge Series in Knowsley (Liverpool) in May.

She recorded 4.83m in round two today before achieving the new World best and World Championships 'A' mark in round three - her first time in excess of 5.00m - to erase the previous best of 5.04m by Marie Amelie Le Fur (France) in 2007. It was also proof that it's not just the Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland team members from Barcelona that are laying down markers for 2012.

“I have had such an issue with fouling and an inconsistent run up but I just tried not to think about it today,” said the Dan Pfaff coached athlete who will now be highly confident in the countdown to the IPC World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2011.

“I’m thrilled, but it’s something that’s been hovering in the back of my mind as I jump that far quite frequently in practice.”

Reid, who is now primarily based out of the UKA National Performance Centre at Lee Valley in London, will return to the capital when she lines up in the final event of the 2010 UKA Disability Athletics Challenge Series at Crystal Palace, London on Sunday 15th August, where she’ll be targeting World Championships qualifying standards over 100m and 200m in a bid to score a trio of podium finishes on the global stage next year.

“I PB’d over 100m in Canada earlier in July so I know I’m in good shape, but time is running out to achieve those standards on the track so the pressure is really on me to perform at Crystal Palace,” she said when she announced her participation in the event.

“2011 will be my second World Championships and I can’t wait to get out there. I’ve enjoyed medal success with my third place finish in Beijing, but I want to build on that and experience what it feels like to stand on the top of the podium.”

Swimming World Championship Success
The British Disability Swimming Team concluded their IPC Swimming World Championship campaign with a total of 18 gold medals after Daniel Pepper added to the impressive medal tally on the final evening.

The Team have seen a number of strong performances throughout the week including Eleanor Simmonds winning four gold medals, Sascha Kindred continuing his unbeaten run in the 200m Individual Medley and Pepper adding gold to the title he won in the 100m Breaststroke.

Pepper was joined by nine other medallists including Paralympic Champion Sascha Kindred and Paralympian James Crisp on the last day of competition in Eindhoven.

Pepper went into the final of the S14 200m Freestyle ranked in second place and he took to the final hungry to add to his medal success. He got off to a good start but turned after the first 50m in third and then dropped to fourth place at the half way point.

It his was his second half speed that allowed him to pull the race back and at the last turn he lay in second place. He put in a powerful final 50m and overtook the field to win in a time of 2:02.18.

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Two golds for GB at Paracycling Road World Champs

The first session of Day 1 of the Paracycling Road World Champs was a great success, with Sarah Storey and David Stone winning their categories for Great Britain.

C5 Women's Time Trial - 22.8km

Sarah Storey was first up for Great Britain on a very pleasant morning in Baie-Comeau. The women faced a tough two laps of the time trial course which included a challenging climb every lap, plus a gradual climb from the start area. Storey was the last rider off in the new C5 womens class, where she had previously been World Champion in the LC1 womens class in 2009, so she had all of the riders in her class ahead of her with the BC coaching staff setup on the course to give her time checks throughout.

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Britons win Austrian and Belgian titles

Britain's Andrew Lapthorne, David Phillipson and Alex Jewit all collected NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour titles in Austria and Belgium over the weekend.

The British players celebrated triple success with Lapthorne winning the quad singles at the Salzburg Open, while Phillipson won the men's singles title at Belgium's Ath Open before partnering Jewitt to win the men's doubles.

Top seed Lapthorne had to come through three three set matches in his four contests at the ITF 1 Series Salzburg Open, defeating Dutch third seed Dorrie Timmermans 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Adam Field made a bold attempt at trying to set up an all-British final, but the fourth seed eventually bowed out 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 in the last four to Italy's Marco Innocenti. Innocenti also took Lapthorne to a deciding set in the final, but world No 7 Lapthorne went on to clinch his second title of 2010 and his first ITF 1 Series title 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. Lapthorne is now set to move up in this week's world rankings published by the International Tennis Federation.

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Archers secure European medals

British archers won a gold medal and four silvers in the team tournaments at the Para Archery Euro Championships, in Vichy, France.

On a day of fantastic success for the Brits, Dani Brown and John Stubbs were gold medallists in the compound mixed team tournament, beating Italy, Russia and then the Swedish pairing of Zandra Reppe and Robert Larsson 149-146 in the final.

The golden duo then won silver in their respective compound team events. In the women’s compound tournament, Brown, Pippa Britton and Mel Clarke were beaten 218-215 by Russia in the final, while it was Switzerland that beat GB in the final of the men’s compound tournament. Stubbs, John Murray and Eric Thomas missed out on the gold by just a point, as the Swiss came through 213-212.

There was a silver medal too for the men’s recurve team of Kenny Allen, Phillip Bottomley and Paul Browne, who lost to the top seeded Russia 203-189 in the final. Allen won his second silver of the day when he paired up with Kate Murray in the mixed recurve competition. The GB duo, lost 135-132 to Italy in the final.

Said GB Performance Director Sara Symington, who has been with the squad in Vichy: “Our archers have done us all proud. It has been a fantastic performance by all of them, and to win five medals in one day is an amazing achievement.”

England lose to Brazil in blind football semi-final

England's hopes of reaching the final of the World Blind Football Championship are over after they lost 5-1 to Brazil in the semi-final.

Brazil, who are unbeaten in the tournament, outclassed England and will face the only other unbeaten side, Spain, in Sunday's final.

The Spaniards left it late to beat China 1-0 in the second semi-final.

France beat Colombia on penalties to win the fifth place play-off, Argentina beat Japan and Greece beat South Korea.

"Brazil were superb and worthy winners and Sunday's final ensures we have the only two unbeaten teams in it," said tournament director Jon Dutton.

"The stage is set for a spectacular game and the third place play-off gives England a chance to sign off in style."

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