De Rozario turns silver into gold and three more Aussies win medals in Tokyo

Wheelchair racer Madison de Rozario is Paralympic champion for the first time, while Isis Holt, Sarah Edmiston and Robyn Lambird completed a set of medals on day three of the athletics action at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Surging to a stunning victory, de Rozario (Louise Sauvage) claimed the gold medal that has eluded her for four Paralympic Games when clocking a Paralympic record of 1:45.99 in the 800m T53. Without a gold medal claimed on the track by an Australian until that point, the world champion and world record holder had the weight of the world on her shoulders yet managed to upgrade her Rio silver to claim the title.

De Rozario stamped her authority on the race early on in the two-lap encounter but slinged around the bend with a lap to go to break away from the pack and make her move for gold. The 27-year-old mowed down her competitors and defeated the reigining Paralympic champion Zhou Hongzhuan from China by more than one second.

The victory was made even sweeter as she sought redemption after placing fifth in the 5000m T54 yesterday.

"I wasn't sure how the race was going to go. My coach Louise (Sauvage) and I watched all the footage from the heats, and we could tell some of the girls were putting it all out there today and others weren't, so we knew we'd have to go hard. I don't have the fastest start, so I knew what I had to do and I followed the plan I set perfectly," she said.

In a heart-warming moment where she thanked her coach, Paralympic great Louise Sauvage and compatriot Angie Ballard (Fred Periac) who placed seventh (1:52.22) for a season best, the 27-year-old said:

"They are two women who have been there at every point of my career, and even in my life considering I started racing at 12 or 13. Both have been there from the beginning. At my first Games in Beijing, I raced in Angie's old race hair. I wouldn't have been able to do it without them with me here."

Back on the track tonight was Isis Holt (Paul Pearce) who completed the sprint double in the T35 class to claim her second silver medal of the Games and fifth Paralympic medal in total. While she was unable to claim her maiden Paralympic title, she put up a fight against rival Zhou Xia for one of her strongest runs yet (27.94).

Holt was fast off the blocks and remained the leader as she stormed around the bend, but had evidently fatigued coming down the home straight. With her muscles tightening due to her cerebral palsy, her fiercest competitor crossed the line first, shattering the world record by more than one second (27.17).

"I think that was one of the most insane races I've ever had. That first 100 felt so good. Coming off that bend, I got everything right that I wanted to get right, but the nature of CP caught me off guard a bit but I hung off as bed as I could. That's the nature of the beast and that's what we love about it."

Commenting on both Zhou and her breaking the world record previously set by the gold medallist at the Rio Paralympic Games, she said:

"Honestly if you're not the one breaking records and winning gold, you might as well be the one who makes the other athlete work hard for it. It's surreal and thinking about how crazy the last 12 months have been. To get out there and put everything out on the track is exciting and overwhelming at the same time."

Bringing our first medal home for the day was Western Australia's Robyn Lambird (Blanche Herbert) who impressed in her first appearance at a Paralympic Games, winning bronze in the 100m T34. Lambird clocked a season best of 18.68 to appear on the the podium with new world record Hannah Cockroft (16.39) and Kare Adenegan who completed a GB quinella.

"The start has always been one of my strengths so I knew if I came out hard I could hold on, keep up with the girls and be a threat. To debut and get a medal at your first Games... you can't ask for much more than that."

Mother of four and grandmother of two, Sarah Edmiston (Paul Edmiston) won her third medal, a bronze, from her third major championships in the women's discus throw F64. An F44 athlete, Edmiston competed in the combined class for athletes with lower leg impairments, and threw an enormous 37.85m on her last attempt for a new Australian record.

Edmiston, who competed as an able-bodied hammer thrower before sustaining an injury from a water skiing accident, shed tears of joy just seconds after her final throw.

"I was so happy with how my competition went. My lead up was fantastic, I came in in really great shape and I'm stoked with my performance today," she said.

"Athletics has always been a passion of mine. I started at a young age, and even after my accident, I came back as an able-bodied athlete before finding my way to Para-sport and it's been an amazing journey ever since."

For the second Games in a row, Australia had Chad Perris (Iryna Dvoskina) make an appearance in the fastest event on the Paralympic schedule - the 100m T13. The Rio bronze medallist and World Championships silver medallist was expected to be on the podium once again, but was outclassed by four others as he crossed the line in 10.84. The race was won by the world's fastest ever Paralympian Jason Smyth (IRE) in 10.53, with Algeria's Skander Athmandi (10.54) and Jean Carlos Mina Aponza from Columbia both standing beside him on the podium.

Sam Carter (Fred Periac) competed in the 400m T54 but was unable to advance to the final, despite performing a season best of 47.06.

In the final event of the evening, Paralympic champion Scott Reardon (Iryna Dvoskina) scraped through to the final after an almost-tumble in Heat 1 of the 100m T63. Launching off the blocks, Reardon slipped but remained calm and came back with a strong recovery to finish fourth in 12.80.

“I don’t know what happened there. I scraped my toe on the way through. The blocks are different to the ones on the warm up track and I couldn’t get it down to the level I wanted to. Normally you go down when you do that, so I’m lucky to have recovered but I’m better than that and I’ll tidy it up for the final and I’ll be alright.”

Tomorrow will see de Rozario and Reardon back on track, while Rheed McCracken and Michal Burian will compete in finals on Day 4 of the Athletics competition in Tokyo.

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 29/8/2021