World records fall on day two in Dubai

Out on the Dubai Police Officer’s Club track, Italy’s Oxana Corso knocked more than a second off her previous 400m T35 world record.

Two world records fell on Friday (18 March), the second day of competition at the 8th Fazza IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Germany’s Claudia Nicoleitzik (T36) bettered her own world record as she leapt to victory in the women’s long jump T36/37/38/46/47 with a penultimate jump of 4.11m (907 points).

The 26-year-old added two centimetres on to her previous world mark set in Dubai two years ago.

Out on the Dubai Police Officer’s Club track, Italy’s Oxana Corso knocked more than a second off her previous 400m T35 world record.

The double Paralympic silver medallist clocked 1:19.44 to finish third in the women’s 400m T35/37 behind French world silver medallist Mandy Francois-Elie (T37) (1:08.58) and Russia’s Elena Tretiakova (T37).

Francois-Elie was also fastest in the women’s 100m T37/38 finals (13.65) with ‘A’ final winner Maria Seifert of Germany next with 14.17.

Two regional records fell in the women’s shot put F32/33. Algeria’s Asmahane Boudjadar (F33) added 45cm on to the African record with her final throw of 5.56m (833 points), and Qatar’s Sara Hamdi Masoud (F33) broke the Asian record as she finished in second place with a best of 5.08m (711 points).

Morocco’s Saida Amoudi also broke the African record in the shot put F34 as she won with a winning throw of 7.32m – a five centimetre improvement on the previous mark she set when finishing fourth at last year’s World Championships.

The women’s javelin F55 also saw a new African record as Kenya’s Nelly Jeptoo Sile added nearly two metres on to her previous mark with a winning throw of 14.54m. Germany’s Martina Willing (F56) won the F56/57 event (21.95m, 953 points) and Iran’s Shahia Hadidi won the women’s javelin F54 (13.11m).

Switzerland’s Marcel Hug continued to impress in the Middle East as he secured his second win of the Grand Prix with victory in the men’s 1,500m T54.

Hug’s time of 3:01.50 was the fastest of the three finals with Frenchman Julien Casoli second in 3:02.82. Hug’s Swiss teammate Catherine Debrunner won the women’s 1,500m T54 (3:39.69).

Morocco’s El Amin Chentouf (T12) also notched up his second win in two days with victory in the men’s 5,000m T12/13 (14:34.75) ahead of his countryman Youssef Benibrahim, who set a new T13 African record of 14:50.41.

Kenya’s Samuel Muchai Kimani also made it two out of two as he added victory in the 5,000m T11 to his win over 1,500m the day before (15:49.20).

French world bronze medallist Timothee Adolphe was the fastest finisher in the men’s 400m T11 (53.75); Kenyan Henry Nzungi Muendo clocked 51.08 to win the men’s 400m T12, and victory in the men’s 400m T13 went to Turkey’s Hakan Cira (51.61).

Fastest in the men’s 400m T20 was France’s Rodrigue Ngonda Massianga (48.84); Algeria’s Sofiane Hamdi (T37) was the quickest in the 400m T37/38 (53.57); Great Britain’s world silver medallist Paul Blake won the 400m T36 (54.72) and Japan’s Atsushi Yamamoto (T42) won the 400m T42/44 (1:03.36).

Uzbekistan’s Murodulloev Marufjon took the tape in the 400m T46 (50.61) as Russia’s Alexey Kotlov finished fastest in the men’s 400m T47 (49.95).

The women’s 400m T12 was won by Azerbaijan’s Elena Chebanu (58.17); Morocco’s Sanaa Benhama took gold in the 400m T13 (58.82); Megumi Ikezaki of Japan won the 400m T20 (1:05.34) and her compatriot Sae Tsuji won the 400m T46/47 (59.72).

The men’s 100m T54 went to form as Finland’s world record holder Leo-Pekka Tahti (14.34) took the win in the fastest of the finals ahead of Dutchman Kenny van Weeghel (14.42).

Switzerland’s Beat Bosch (T52) won the 100m T51/52 (18.30) while fellow Swiss sprinter Bojan Mitic (T34) got the better of Kuwait’s Ahmad Almutairi to win the ‘A’ final of the men’s 100m T33/34 in 16.19. Mitic later added a win in the 1,500m T34/52 too (3:51.41).

World bronze medallist Pierre Fairbank was the fastest in the men’s 100m T53 races (15.20).

In the women’s sprints there was a second victory for Australia’s Rosemary Little (T34) who added to her 400m win from Thursday (17 March) with a win in the ‘A’ Final of the 100m T34/53 (18.87).

Turkey’s Hamide Kurt (T53) clocked 17.46 to win the second final ahead of Nigeria’s Olajide Olajumoke Annah (T53) whose time of 18.51 was a new African record.

Hannah Babalola added to Nigeria’s success with a win in the women’s 100m T54 (17.17).

Field events

Alexey Lesnykh’s (F37) fifth round throw of 12.96m (823 points) earned him gold in the men’s shot put F37/38/46 while fellow Russian Sergei Sokulskii won the shot put F54 with a best of 8.78m before going on to also win the discus F51/52/54 (24.49m, 733 points). Iranian Asadollah Azimi (F53) managed 7.36m (761 points) to take gold in the shot put F52/53.

In the women’s shot put F46/47, Japan’s Yukiko Kato enjoyed a convincing win (11.94m), while the Netherlands' Lara Baars (F40) won the F40/41 event with 6.36m (681 points). Bahrain’s Fatema Nedham recorded a best of 4.47m (923 points) to win the F52/53 shot put.

India’s Pradeep only managed to record two throws in the men’s discus F44 but 40.46m was enough to secure him the gold, while Kuwaiti Abdullah Alsaif (F40) won the discus F40/41 with his final round effort of 17.74m (780 points). Greece’s Nikolaos Gonios won the F32 event with his opening round throw of 17.14m – more than a metre clear of the field.

Saudia Arabia’s Hani Alnakhli got the better of a stellar field to take the win in the men’s discus F33. The world record holder’s best of 28.61m was exactly two metres further than silver medallist Daniel Scheil of Germany.

Columbia’s world silver medallist Mauricio Valencia threw 33.17m to win the men’s discus F34; Mohammad Fathiganji of Iran took the win in the discus F46/47 (35.03m), and Tom Habscheid of Luxembourg won the discus F42 with his second round effort of 43.79m.

Dutch athlete Marlene van Gansewinkel (T44) showed consistent form as she triumphed in the long jump T42/44 with a best of 5.47m (962 points).

Vladislav Barinov’s leap of 5.82m was enough for the Russian to take the win in the men’s long jump T36/37/38, while victory in the men’s T46/47 event went to Georgios Kostakis (T46) of Greece (6.68m).

Egypt’s Hamada Hassan cleared 1.70m (847 points) to win the men’s high jump T12/42/44/46.

The third of four days of competition at the Dubai Grand Prix continues on Saturday (19 March).