Turner Lights Fuse as four Australians earn Paris Podium

A golden morning for James Turner set the tone for Australia’s most successful day of the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships yet, as Mali Lovell, Maria Strong and Vanessa Low piled on three more medals on Day Seven. 

Returning to the top of the world in the 100m T36 after his first defeat at the Tokyo Paralympics, Turner (ACT, Iryna Dvoskina) strolled to a 11.85 (-0.3) performance en route to his second gold  medal of the week, recovering from a slow start to leave the field in his wake in a time just 0.13-seconds outside of his world record. 

Defeating Algeria’s Mokhtar Didane (11.99) and Argentina's Alexis Sebastian Chavez (12.03), Turner hit the front at 80m and charged through the line to a resounding victory. 

“I feel like I pulled my adductor three steps in so to be able to come home like that, I’m really happy. After Tokyo, I came home with the mindset that I’m not going to let anything stop me,” Turner said.

“It feels really good. My preparation wasn’t at its best while I was focussing on studying for life post-sport so I’m really fortunate and really proud to have won the gold medal.” 

19-year-old Lovell (NSW, Katie Edwards & Melinda Gainsford-Taylor) completed her dream debut with a silver medal in the 200m T36, racing to a career-best run of 30.19 (-2.7) against a stubborn headwind to earn her first global medal.

The teenager scorched her way around the bend, placing behind New Zealand’s Danielle Aitchison who set a new Oceania record of 28.50, while Abby Craswell (QLD, Andrew Craswell) finished in eighth place in a new personal best time of 32.96. 

“This is incredible! I wasn’t expecting to get second and to do a personal best is so good. This is amazing, it means everything to me, I don’t even know what to say. We’ve got another year to prepare for the Paralympics, so I will train hard and aim for that,” Lovell said. 

Backing up her gold on Day One in the 100m T72, Strong (VIC, John Eden) swapped the track for the field as they secured silver in the Shot Put F33, going one better than their Paralympic bronze with a new Oceania record of 6.82m.  

“Throwing a personal best is always good. I have actually thrown past my Tokyo medal performance five times since January now, so I must be doing something right! Particularly as some of the officials said out there, that I am 52-years-old,” Strong said.

Competing for the first time on the world stage as a mother to one-year-old Matteo, two-time Paralympic champion Low (ACT, Scott Reardon) capped off her triumphant return ro the sport with a sensational bronze medal in the Long Jump T63, adding a fifth World Championships medal to her collection. 

Leaping 4.90m (+1.8) in the sixth round to miss out on silver by one centimetre, Low conquered the challenging conditions to make her comeback complete alongside husband and coach Scott Reardon a raging success, having jumped for the first time in February this year. 

“No one understands how long of a journey it was and how hard of a journey it was. There was a long period of time where I couldn’t walk and pregnancy was pretty tough for me. We had to adapt and we had to make it work, and standing here today with a medal means everything and more,” Low said.

“I always love sharing my favourite quote which is ‘happiness is only real when shared’, and I think that was a real representation today - having my family here and doing this journey alongside the two really important men in my life.” 

Australia’s wheelchair racers elevated their game on Day Seven of the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, led by Samuel Carter (ACT, Fred Periac) who asserted himself as the fifth fastest 100m T54 athlete in the world in a time of 14.21 (+0.6). Luke Bailey (NSW, Andrew Dawes) came agonisingly close to a lane in the final, nailed by 0.02-seconds with a time of 14.66 in Heat 2. 

Samuel McIntosh (VIC, Fred Periac) blazed to an automatic berth in tomorrow’s 100m T52 Final when clocking 17.91 (-1.3) to finish in second place of Heat 1, advancing as as the equal fourth fastest qualifier for the final where he will launch his medal bid. 

Former world record holder Angela Ballard (ACT, Fred Periac) rounded out the action with sixth-place finish in the 400m T53, clocking 58.05 to close her ninth World Championships appearance. 

Perth teenager Jackson Hamilton (WA, Morgan Ward) recorded a seventh-place finish in the Javelin F13 at his international debut, launching a 58.41m effort in the fourth round to fall just 1.38m shy of the podium.. 

The results lift Australia to 12th place on the medal table at the conclusion of Day Seven. 

By Lachlan Moorhouse and Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 16/7/2023