8th June 2024
ANDRE AND KINGHORN IN PB FORM ON FINAL DAY AT NOTTWIL WPA GP
There were some stunning personal bests on a busy final day of action at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland with lifetime bests for Fabienne Andre (Richard Chiassaro, Harlow), and Sammi Kinghorn (Rodger Harkins, Red Star).
Andre’s PB came in the T34 100m in a race won by Hannah Cockroft (Paul Moseley, Leeds). Both Britons lined up for their final races of the Swiss series, with Cockroft clocking 17.23 (0.2) and Andre going quicker than ever before in 18.61. Her previous legal best was 18.74 from last year’s Nottwil meeting.
Kinghorn continued to hone her form ahead of the Paris Paralympics with two fine personal bests in the T53 100m and 1500m to bring her Swiss series to a close.
In the 100m she would beat Catherine Debrunner by a significant margin in the T53 100m. The 2017 and 2023 world champion pushed to a huge lifetime best, improving from 15.56 previously to 15.39 (0.7), taking the scalp of her Swiss rival.
In the mixed classification T53/54 1500m later in the day, Kinghorn was again in exceptional form as she lowered her PB to 3:06.47 from 3:07.53 in a fast and furious contest. With Debrunner leading home the field in 3:05.41, taking Kinghorn’s European record, it pulled everyone else along to very fast times, with Kinghorn revising her own record books.
In the same field, T54 wheelchair racer Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Arno Mul, Red Velvet Racing) was 11th, recording a time of 3:22:43.
There was a season best for Olivia Breen (Aston Moore, City of Portsmouth) in the T38 long jump as she matched her legal best from 2023 with a jump of 5.04m to continue her strong start to the 2024 campaign.
She would also compete in the 100m, recording 13.40, while Sophie Hahn (Leon Baptiste, Charnwood) stopped in the clock at 12.82.
Thomas Young (Joe McDonnell, Charnwood) went quicker than his first 100m in Nottwil, recording 11.09 on Saturday. There was also a solid performance by T11 sprinter James Ledger (Matt Elias, DSW Para Academy) who crossed the line in 11.65.
Nathan Maguire (Steve Hoskins, Kirkby AC) contested the T54 100m – a shorter event than he is used to – and he set a very solid time of 14.32 (0.9) for sixth in the race.
There was another classic T54 1500m in one of the final races of the day with David Weir (Jenny Archer, Weir Archer Academy) continuing to show his quality on the track as he finished a close second to Marcel Hug (SUI) with a fine margin separating the pair.
Hug won in 2:51.63 with Weir the best of the rest with 2:53.12 for second place in a stacked field. Maguire was back in action for fifth in 2:54.47 with Danny Sidbury (Christine Parsloe) narrowly in sixth in 2:54.50.
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