The White Tiger to Roar on Day Four | Perris and Co Battle for World Championship Glory

The White Tiger is ready to roar on Day Four of the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, with Australia’s fastest-ever para athlete Chad Perris (ACT, Matt Beckenham) set to lead the way for four international debutants today at Stade Charlety, Paris.

Born with albinism, Perris is ready to rumble in the 100m T13 Final, where he aims to blaze his way to global medal number six. The 10.65-second man’s hopes are bolstered by his record of having won a medal at every World Para Athletics Championships since 2015, already dreaming of what it would mean to add another to his collection:

“It would mean a lot. Tokyo was really tough and I had a really sort of tough 18 months but I think since then, I’ve done a lot of great work and I’ve got some great people around me so I can’t thank coach Matt Beckenham enough and the crew back in Canberra,” Perris said.

Identifying his start as a key adjustment ahead of the final, a calculated Perris spoke with optimism post-race in the event which will be won by the best man on the day, with only two men qualifying in times under 11-seconds.

“I’m in a good position and I’m looking forward to tomorrow night. This is just the warm up and I’ll go hard tomorrow.”

Perris will take on the likes of Skander Athmani (Algeria) and Salum Kashafali (Norway), who posted the fastest seed times of 10.85 (-0.8) and 10.74 (-0.7) for today’s final.

The teenage duo of Abby Craswell (QLD, Andrew Craswell) and Mali Lovell (NSW, Katie Edwards & Melinda Gainsford Taylor) made a strong first impression on international debut in yesterday’s 100m T36 first round, both progressing to today’s final in times of 14.97 (0.0) and 15.17 (+0.4) respectively.

“I’m so proud to be representing Australia for the first time. It’s a dream come true. To get the automatic qualifier is more than what I expected, I was so happy to get out there and run,” Craswell said.

Lovell shared in the excitement ahead of the final:

“It means absolutely everything to me to make the final, this is my first World Championships. I put my nerves to the side and ran my race,” Lovell said.

Backing up last night’s fourth place in the Javelin F34, Dayna Crees (VIC, Gordon Talbot) will feature in the Shot Put F34, while Australia’s youngest team member Angus Hincksman (SA, Simon Moran) will spin the wheels in the first round of the 400m T38 ahead of his main event, the 1500m T38 later in the championships.

The 16 athletes entered in the 400m T52 heats will have to halved ahead of tomorrow’s final, with Samuel McIntosh (VIC, Fred Periac) vying for one of those positions in his first of two events, meeting a world-class field in his welcome to Stade Charlety, Paris.

Catch all the Australian action from 5pm AEST on the Nine Network’s digital platform, 9Now. Full start lists and results can be found HERE.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted:12/72023