Athletics Australia – News – PARALYMPICS: Ladies night in London

It has been ladies night at the Paralympic Stadium as Louise Ellery (ACT) and Angela Ballard (NSW) both won SILVER in front of yet another full, and very vocal, house.

The world championship bronze medallist in the same event, the Commonwealth champion Ellery, who acquired her brain injury in a car accident, threw a Paralympic record of 5.90m for the F32 class to secure a place on the podium for the first time at her third Paralympic outing. She has previously placed 6th in the same event at the Athens (GRE) and Beijing (CHN) Games.

Competing secured and therefore taking three throws at a time, Ellery hurled a foul, her best mark of 5.90m and 5.79m to sit in second spot before the final eight progressed. Taking to the circle once more knowing that she had won at least silver, Ellery was unable to steal gold from Birgit Kober (GER, first, 10.25m, WR).

Ellery said: “I’m really, really happy with that, the noise and atmosphere didn’t annoy me too much but sometimes it got so loud that I was tempted to put my fingers in my ears.

“It was just an exciting experience.”

Ellery competed alongside her Australian teammate Brydee Moore (Vic), who in the fifth round threw 6.05m to place sixth.

Adding to the bronze medal she won in the T53 wheelchair 100m, Ballard clocked an Oceania record of 29.35 (w: +0.7) to be edged out for the top prize by Lisha Huang (CHN, first, 29.18, PB).

Making up what for she called a disappointing race in the 800m last night, Ballard came out of lane five and was side-by-side with the winner Huang and her compatriot Hongzhuan Zhou (CHN, third, 29.40, PB) before splitting the middle and crossing second.

Ballard, a prodigy of Paralympic Hall of Fame star Louise Sauvage, will now shift her attention to the 400m, the last of her four events at these her fourth Paralympic Games.

Ballard said: “I am happy with the silver, I’ve split the Chinese duo and it makes two out of three good races. The 400m is still to come so hopefully I’ve still got a little in the tank.

“I really wanted to get a good bend so that when I came onto the straight the work was done. It probably didn't happen as well as I would have liked which makes the PB and the silver medal by just 0.05 seconds so much sweeter.”

Madison de Rozario (WA) finished 6th alongside Ballard, clocking a personal best 30.33 in the process.

Ballard continued: “It was a great effort by Maddy too, I think it is a PB for her too and that’s a great result for us both.”

Also competing on the track were Rosemary Little (NSW) in the T34 200m, and Torita Isaac (Qld) in the T38 100m. Both events are for athletes with cerebral palsy or an acquired brain injury.

Little, who is on debut here in London and won her heat this morning, was unlucky to not snatch a bronze from Desiree Vranken (NED, bronze, 34.85, PB). Vranken crossed ahead of Little (time: 35.08) by just 0.2 seconds.

Little said: “I was having spasms before the race and I have no control over them or when they happen which wasn’t ideal. On the whole the race itself went pretty well and I am happy to head home from these Games with a bronze medal from the 100m.

“I’ve been seriously training since November, and know that in one year’s time when the world champs come around I will feel I will be more prepared to tackle international fields like we have seen here.”

Competing in the T38 200m final, Isaac, who has mild cerebral palsy and is visually impaired, clocked 29.78 to finish 7th. Isaac’s appearance in the round of eight tonight came after she ran 29.36 in the heat this morning to progress to the final as the fastest non-automatic qualifier.

For more information on the 2012 London Paralympic Games, including results and detailed athlete profiles, please follow this link to the Australian Paralympic Committee website.

 

Athletics Australia – News