Field athletes dominate Day Two of the IPC

Field athletes dominate the records on Day Two of the IPC Athletics World Champs

Records continued to fall on day two of the 2011 International Paralympic
Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand
with field athletes securing seven of the eight World records set.

First up was Mexico's Angeles Ortiz Hernandes who set a new world record
(11.21m/1002points) to claim gold in the Women's Shot Put F57/58 Final.
Bulgaria's Stela Eneva (10.54m/960points) took silver with Algeria's Nadia
Medjmedj (9.48m/901points) bronze.

In the Women's Shot Put F32/33/34 there were two World Records and a
Championship record. Germany's Brigit Kober (9.30m/1122 points) broke the
F34 World record to secure gold whilst Greece's Maria Stamatoula (6.60m/1053
points) beat the F32 World record to claim silver. Australia's Louise Ellery
(F32 6.31m/1017 points) took bronze. By throwing 6.12m/938 points Poland's
Lucyna Kornobys also set a Championship record in the F33 class.

Next to rewrite the record books was Pawel Piotrowski of Poland in the Men's
Shot Put F35/36). His World record gold medal throw of 13.77m (1007 points)
put him ahead of Russia's Vladmir Sviridov (13.65m/1004 points) - a season's
best - and China's Wei Guo (14.18m/988 points).

In the Women's Long Jump F42 Kelly Cartwright jumped a World record 4.19m to
win Australia's first gold medal of the Championships. The Netherlands'
Marije Smits came second (3.73m) and Poland's Ewa Zielinska third (3.62) -
both season's bests for the athletes.

After setting a new World record at December's Asian Para Games in Guangzhou,
China's Mingjie Gao extended his record in the Men's Javelin T44 Final. His
throw of 59.82m was 1.29m further than his previous record and was enough to
push teammate Changlong Gao into silver with 55.21m - a season's best. The
Netherlands' Ronald Hertog claimed bronze with a throw of 52.37m.

In a thrilling Men's Discus F37/38 the World record was broken twice first by
Ukraine's Mykola Zhabnyak (F37 52.48m) who took silver and then Poland's
Tomasz Blatkiewicz (F37 53.00m) who claimed gold. Bronze saw Iran's Javad
Hardani (46.53m) break the F38 Chamionship record.

On the track Egypt's Mostafa Fathalla Mohammed broke the Men's 100m T37 World
record in the heats setting a time of 11.64 seconds. The final is on Monday.

The race of the day on the track was the first battle between Great Britain's
Dave Weir and Switzerland's Marcel Hug. In a compelling 800m T54 race that
had the crowd on the edge of their seats Weir smashed the Championship record
(1:37.28) to beat Hug (1:37.30) in a photo finish. France's Julien Castoli
(1:37.53) took bronze.

It was Brazil's Odair Santos who kicked off proceedings on day two with an
emphatic win in the Men's 10,000m T11 Final in a Championship record of
32:13.02.

Silver went to Chile's Christian Valenzuela who was more than a minute behind
the winner in 33:21.51, whilst Mexico's Luis Zapien Rosas took bronze in a
season's best time of 33:41.70.

In the other 10,000m race on day two Tunisia's Abderrahim Zhiou (30:45.57)
set a Championship record in winning gold in the T12. Algeria's Nacereddine
Kerfas (30:49.63) took silver and Spain's Alberto Suarez Laso (31:13.00) the
bronze.

China dominated this morning's 100m races winning three out of four gold
medals available.

In the Women's T53 Final World record holder Lisha Huang took gold (17.13)
ahead of USA's Anjali Forber Pratt (17.40) and China's Hongzhuan Zhou
(17.60).

There was a shock in the Men's T53 Final with Huzhao Li upstaging British's
World record holder Michael Bushell to win gold. Li's time of 14.82 was a
Championship record and was 0.04 ahead of the Brit. Canada's Brent Lakatos
took bronze (15.07).

China took gold and silver in the Women's T54 100m through Hongjiao Dong
(16.73) and Wenjun Liu (16.78). Bronze went to USA's Tatyana McFadden

The only non-Chinese winner in the 100m was Finland's Leo Pekka Tahti who was
victorious in a Championship record time of 14.14 in the Men's T54.

Silver went to Thailand's Saichon Konjen (14.41) whilst the Netherlands'
Kenny Vam Weeghel took bronze (14.47).

In the Men's 1,500m T13 Final Morocco's Tarik Zal took gold in 3:58.66 whilst
his teammate Youssef Benbrahim claimed bronze (4:00.88). Silver went to
Poland's Lukasz Wietecki (3:59.52)and Youssef Benbrahim (4:00.88)

Suffering a calf injury New Zealand's Tim Prendergast, the World record
holder at this distance, was determined to finish the race and hobbled to the
finish line in seventh. He now faces a race to be fit for Friday's 800m

There were nine 200m Finals on Sunday with some thrilling races.

The Men's 200m T34 saw Mohammed Hammadi take gold (30.14), France's Sebastien
Mobre silver (30.39) and USA's Austin Pruitt (31.14).

The first 200m of the afternoon session saw France's Assia El Hannouni secure
gold in a season's best time of 25.83 in the Women's T12 class. Silver went
to Brazil's Hanka Kolnikova (26.38) and bronze Great Britain's Elizabeth
Clegg (26.75).

Russia's Elena Ivanova was victorious in the Women's T36 final running 30.40.
China World record holder Fang Wang claimed silver (30.91) whilst Germany's
Claudia Nicoleitzik picked up bronze (31.93).

After winning gold in the Commonwealth Games last year, Great Britain's
Katrina Hart was again successful this time in the Women's T37 Final. In a
breathtaking finish Hart (30.11) beat Russia's Svetiana Sergeeva (31.02) and
Ukraine's Viktoriya Kravchenko (31.17) into silver and bronze respectively.

The Women's T38 Final was won by Russia's Margarita Koptilova (28.59), whilst
Tunisia's Sonia Mansour (28.74) took silver and Ukraine's Inna Dyachenko
(28.76) the bronze.

After breaking the World record in yesterday's heats, visually impaired
Brazilian athlete Terezinha Guilhermina blew away the field to win the 200m
T11 race by two clear seconds (24.98). Teammate Jerusa Geber Santos secured
silver (26.98) and bronze went to Great Britain's Tracey Hinton.

The Championship record fell in the Women's T46 Final after Cuba's Yunidis
Castillo ran 24.86 to take gold. Silver went to Russia's Nikol Rodomakina
(25.94) and bronze Great Britain's Sally Brown (26.38).

In the final 200m race of the day Switzerland's Beat Boesch powered to
victory in a thrilling race. His time of 32.54 was just ahead of rivals
Mexican Salvador Hernandez in second with 32.64 and third placed Tomoya Ito
of Japan with 32.80.

The Men's 1,500m T36 saw Russia's Artem Arefyev (4:40.17) overtake Great
Britain's Paul Blake (4:41.66) in the final straight to secure gold. Bronze
went to Spain's Jose Manuel Gonzalez (4:46.90).

After Kelly Cartwright's success in the Long Jump, Richard Colman stormed to
Australia's second gold medal in the 800m T53 in a Championship record time
of 1:41.58. Spain's Roger Puigbo Verdaguer (1:42.17) and Korea's Byunghoon
Yoo (1:43.20) took silver and bronze respectively.

The Men's 400m T12 saw success for Portugal through Luis Goncalves (49.83).
Silver went to Germany's Matthias Schroeder (50.96) and bronze Spain's Gerard
Desgarrega Puigde (51.88).

In the final medal event of the day on the track, Brazil's Lucas Prado
(11.59) stormed to victory in the Men's 100m T11 in a Championship record.
Russia's Andrey Koptev (11.54) took silver and Brazil's Daniel Silva (11.59)
bronze.

Earlier in the day in the heats for the Men's 100m T38 Australia's World
record holder Evan O'Hanlon set a new Championship record coasting to a time
of 11.21.

The USA's Jerome Singleton set a Season's Best of 23.28 in his heat for the
Men's 200m T44, however it was South Africa's Oscar Pistorius who was the
fastest qualifier in 22.52. Both athletes believe the 200m World record
could be in jeopardy in tomorrow's final.

In the field a throw of 3.76m from Mexico's Estela Salas (747 points) was
good enough to secure gold in the women's F52/53 shot put final. India's
Deepa Malik won her country's first medal of the Championships when she
claimed silver with a throw of 3.59m (687points), while Martha Gustafson from
Canada won bronze 3.45m (540 points) - a Championship record for a F52
athlete.

Tunisia won gold in the Women's Shot Put F40 through World record holder
Raoua Tlili who set a Championship record after throwing 9.23m. China's
Genjimisu Meng was second (8.64m) whilst Morocco's Laila El Garaa third
(8.54m).

In the women's F37 discus throw, current Paralympic Games champion, China's
Na Mi, set a new Championship record (31.46m) to secure gold from Great
Britain's Beverly Jones (30.62m) and Qiuping Xu (28.74) from China.

Juntingxian Jia's leap of 4.47m in the women's long jump in the F11 final
delivered another gold medal to China, while Paraskevi Kantza from Greece
(3.91m) and Finland's Elisa Montonen (3.33m) were second and third
respectively.

Bulgaria's Dechko Ovcharov claimed gold in the Men's Javelin F42 with a throw
measuring 44.44m. Norway's Runar Steinstad was second (44.39m) and South
Africa's Casper Schutte (39.56m).

In total eight World and 14 Championship records were broken in the morning
session bringing the respective total for the event to 18 World and 39
Championship records.

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