Bronzed Aussie Kenzie adds fifth medal to Australia's tally in Kobe

The final night of the World Para Athletics Championships belonged to Tasmania’s Deon Kenzie who added a bronze medal to Australia’s tally in Japan tonight, marking a triumphant return to the international podium with his eighth global medal.

The former world champion was unlucky to miss a spot on the podium at the 2023 iteration in Paris and demonstrated formidable resolve in an effort prove his might over the 1500m T38 to earn a quota spot for Australia at the Paralympic Games.

Starting strong, Kenize (Philo Saunders & Mike Gunson) led from the gun, dictating the pace and holding the lead until the final 600m of the race. His early pace set the tone for the field but as the bell rang, the Australian found himself challenged by Amen Allah Tissaoui (TUN) and Abdelkrim Krai (ALG), who sat on his shoulder over the course of the race, waiting for their moment to strike in pursuit of the win.

Despite a strong performance, Kenzie’s bronze medal meant he narrowly missed securing a quota spot for Australia at the upcoming Paralympic Games, with only gold and silver medals in this event earning automatic spots. He will now await final selection for the Australian in July to learn his fate.

“Obviously I went in tonight to get that quota spot for Australia and fell short, so this bronze medal definitely comes with mixed emotions. But to come away with a global medal, particularly when they are harder and harder to come by with the depth of Paralympic sport increasing, it means so much to add another one to the collection,” Kenzie said.

“At this level, everyone is doing everything we can and as athletes, you can do everything right and the result isn’t there on the day. This season hasn’t represented where I’ve been in training so I’m hoping this next period before Paris goes smoothly, because this race is going to be one of the races of the Paralympics.”

The race was won by T37 athlete Tissaoui who raced up a class, and won in a world record time of 3:58.31.

Paralympic bronze medallist Nicholas Hum (VIC, John Boas) came close to a podium finish earlier in the day, with a 6.78m (-0.8) mark in the Long Jump T20 for athletes with an intellectual impairment to finish fourth, with the Victorian missing out on bronze by a mere five-centimetres.

Proud Wakawaka and Gubbi Gubbi woman Samantha Schmidt (QLD, Ralph Newton) sent the discus soaring to a season’s best of 32.98m to finish seventh in the F38 class.

Back on the track, Australia took aim at the 800m T54 with a two-pronged attack, as wheelchair racers Samuel Rizzo (VIC, Richard Colman) and Luke Bailey (NSW, Andrew Dawes) lined up for Australia’s final events in Kobe. Victorian Rizzo delivered a slick seventh place in 1:36.87, while Bailey rounded out the field with a season’s best of 1:38.36 to finish in ninth place.

The Australian team concluded their campaign at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships with five medals, including one gold (Vanessa Low), one silver (James Turner) and three bronze medals (Mali Lovell, Michael Roeger and Deon Kenzie).

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 25/5/2024