Clifford and O'Hanlon lift medal haul to three

The medal haul continued for the Australians on the second day of the Tokyo Paralympics athletics competition, with Jaryd Clifford claiming silver, while Australian stalwart Evan O'Hanlon claimed bronze to bring our track and field medal tally to three.

Five years ago a 17-year-old Jaryd Clifford (Philo Saunders) placed 7th in the 5000m T13 at the Rio Paralympic Games. Claiming he was there to survive, he vowed to come back in Tokyo to thrive. Thrive he did, as he triumphantly claimed silver in the 5000m T13 final - just one of three events on his Paralympic program at Japan National Stadium.

Clifford held his own in he 5000m, comfortably amongst the leaders of the pack from the starter gun. With 200m to go, he gave a final injection of speed in an attempt to overtake Spain's Yassine Ouhdadi El Ataby but was unable to keep up with the eventual gold medallist in the final 100m. Giving it his all, he crossed the line in 14:35.52 - missing out on the gold medal by just 0.39 seconds.

Taking a moment after his race, the AIS-based athlete said to Channel 7:

"That was really hard. These last 12 months have been a big sacrifice and so many people believed in me, and I'm so grateful to be able to wear this singlet, but it wasn't good enough for what I wanted today," he said.

"I gave it everything and I'm pretty cooked and pretty emotional, but that's a testiment to where Paralympic sport is. No medal is guaranteed and I knew that coming in. I looked around the start line and saw myself against some really great runners. This medal means the world to me for what it represents.

"I wish I had got that gold today but I know sport is about so much more than that. If people can look at my performance and how I run a race, and how my team mates run, it can change anyone's life. Running has changed my life. Gold is what I'm here for but sport, at this level is about the story. If we can touch people's lives then that's a gold medal in another way."

Clifford will line up again for his next race, the 1500m T13 on Tuesday, August 31.

Evan O'Hanlon (Iryna Dvoskina) won his fourth medal in the 100m T38 from four Games, when recording 11.00 to win bronze. Completing the medal set after winning Bejing and London gold and Rio silver, O'Hanlon was close to replicating his Rio result, with a dead-heat with silver medallist Zhu Dening but ultimately finished in third place, after a photo finish separated the sprinters.

O'Hanlon, who is attempting to become the first Summer Paralympian to qualify for the Winter Olympics in bobsleigh, was thrilled with his result, having overcome a troubled-lead up which included a broken foot amongst other injuries.

"I'm pretty pleased. You would remember when I won silver in Rio, I was pretty pissed off. But I'm older now, and I also broke my foot earlier this year and had two surgeries to fix it. Two months ago I ran 11.7 so to take off 0.7 of a second is crazy," O'Hanlon said.

"My priorities have also changed a lot since Rio. I live in the Czech Republic with my two kids and wife, and I live completely off the wage I earn from Athletics Australia and the Sports Commission. I couldn't be more happy to continue that."

Madison de Rozario (Louise Sauvage) lined up for the 5000m T54 as the reigning world champion, but was unable to break away from the event's heavyweights and finish fifth out of 10 in a time of 11:15.86. An event of tactics for wheelchair racers, de Rozario was unlucky to be boxed in for a portion of the race, but broke away to fight for bronze before USA's Paralympic champion Tatyanna McFadden and Nikita den Boer from The Netherland's outclassed her .

"It was definitely the most difficult race I've ever been in. Having not raced for two years, there was an absense of information on how everyone else has been racing but literally everyone is in the same boat," de Rozario said.

"I made a lot of mistakes in that race. It was my worst executed race in the last few years but it's nice to get it out of the way beofre the next race. In my last six months of prep, the mindset was having a 5k heat to race (instead of a straight final) to get an idea of how an idea how to race on this track, how I can race in these conditions and against these girls, but today, that showed and I didn't go that well."

Like Clifford, de Rozario still has her best events yet to come, with the 800m tomorrow, 1500m and marathon T53/54 - all events which she will be competing for the ellusive gold at her fourth Paralympic Games.

Western Australia's Rhiannon Clarke and Ella Pardy, both coached by Danny Kevan, qualified for the 100m T38 fiinal today and both produced season best runs in tonight's final. Clarke qualified third for the final, with 13.10 and lowered her time to 13.08 to place fifth, while Ella Pardy finished 7th in her second Paralympic final, with a time of 13.14.

Oceania record holder in the women's long jump T64 Sarah Walsh (Matt Beckenham) completed her second Paralympic final, finishing in 7th place with a best jump of 5.11. While the result was 8cm off her personal best, Walsh was up against world-class competition, including Paralympic champion Fleur Jong (NED) who jumped a world record of 6.16m.

After making her Paralympic debut yesterday, 18-year-old Alissa Jordaan (Sebastian Kuzminski) ran her first final at a major championships in the 400m T47 in a time of1:01.30 to finish seventh.

The Tokyo Paralympic competition will resume tomorrow, with eight more Australians competing for our first gold medal on the track and field.

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted:  28/8/2021