Regional records fall on final day of Sao Paulo Grand Prix

The third and final day of action at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Saturday (25 April) saw six regional records smashed and a number of new world and regional leads set.

Leading the way was home grown sprint sensation Veronica Hipolito. After winning the 200m on Friday (24 April), the 18-year-old ran her 400m T38 race in 1:04.37 to take 0.53 seconds off her own Americas record set last August at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix final in Birmingham, Great Britain.

South Africa’s Charl Wessel du Toit (52.38) was a clear winner in the men’s 400m T37, lowering the African record set at the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France, by 0.16 seconds.

The other 400m races saw Cuba’s Omara Durand (57.42) secure her third sprint win of the meet with victory in the women’s T12, a feat also achieved by Brazil’s three-time Paralympic champion Terezinha Guilhermina (57.33), who posted the fastest time of the year so far in the women’s T11 class.

Venezuela’s Norkelys Gonzalez (1:03.47) posted a new lead time in the Americas region in the women’s 400m T20, whilst her compatriots Jesus Alfredo Aguilar (52.91) and Juan Ramon Fernandez (48.18) were winners in the men’s T53 and T54 races respectively over one lap.

Argentina’s Rotondo Henrique (1:01.92) won the men’s 400m T36. The remaining 400m races were all won by Brazilian athletes.

In the men’s races Felipe Gomes (50.59) posted the fastest time of the year to win the T11; Diogo Ualisson Silva (52.25) won the T12; Gustavo Henrique Faria Araujo (49.66) the T13, and Daniel Tavares Martins (48.35) posted a world leading time in the T20 class.

The men’s T46/47 race was a thriller with just 0.41 separating an all-Brazilian podium. Yohannson Nascimento (50.43) took the win, just ahead of Emicarlo Elias de Souza (50.46) and Washington Nascimneto Junior (50.84) in second and third.

Indayana Pedrina Moia Martins do Couto (59.80) won the women’s T13 class race and Maria de Fatima Fonseca Chaves (1:03.28) the T53/54 equivalent.

Two of the three men’s medal events over 5,000m were won by Brazilian athletes. Carlos Jose Barto da Silva (16:51.99) won the T11 race and Yeltsin F. Ortega Jacques (15:39.24) won the T12 version. Both had won their respective 1,500m races earlier in the week. Peru’s Sotacuro Efrain (16:42.34) took the win in the men’s T46.

In the field events there were four Americas records with two falling to Brazilian athletes and two to Argentine throwers.

Brazil’s Andre Luis da Rocha Antunes (9.15m) broke a 12-year-old Americas record in the men’s shot put F54 and his compatriot Elizabeth Rodrigues Gomes (6.79m) added 0.61m to the women’s shot put F54 record which had stood since November 2011.

Argentina’s Antonio Victoriano Rodas (36.66m) improved his own regional record by nearly four metres in the men’s discus F12 and his compatriot Hernan Urra (40.84m) added more than five metres to his own six-month-old discus F35 Americas record.

Mexico’s double world champion Maria Ortiz Hernandez (10.64m) set a new world lead in the women’s shot put F57 and Syria’s world champion Mohamad Mohamad (13.60m) posted a new African lead distance in the men’s equivalent.

Per Johnsson (7.01m) of Sweden now tops the world rankings after winning the men’s long jump T13 as does Japan’s world champion Yamamoto Atsushi Yamamoto (6.35m) in the T42 class.

Two South African’s - Hilton Langenhoven (6.84m) and Dyan Buis (5.93m) - were victorious in their respective long jump events in the T12 and T38 classes.

There was also wins for Venezuela’s Yomaira Cohen (9.38m) in the women’s shot put F35/36/37, Cuba’s Franklin Oquendo Fonseca (38.96m) in the men’s discus F37 and Argentina’s Daniel Tataren (5.60m) in the men’s long jump F36/37.

Amongst the Brazilian men to taste victory in the field and move to the top of the world rankings was Ricardo Costa de Oliveira (6.33m) in the long jump T11, Alessandro Rodrigo da Silva (34.72m) in the men’s discus F11 and Ricardo Alves Nunes (10.17m) in the shot put F55.

Joao Tenorio de Araujo (7.84m) also won the men’s shot put F56, Marco Aurelio Lima Borges (45.12m) the men’s discus F44 (the USA’s world champion Jeremy Campbell did not start), Wesley Silva Rodrigues da Cruz (33.05m) the men’s discus F42 and Joao Luis Dos Santos (42.06m) the men’s discus F46.

On the women’s side Izabela Silva Campos (9.03m) in the shot put F11 and Maria Joselita da Silva Moreira (6.23m) in the shot put F55/56 were the winners for the host nation.

The IPC Athletics Grand Prix will now move onto the USA, with the Desert Challenge Games in Mesa between 15-16 May acting as the sixth major meeting of the season.