31st August 2024

Young and Hahn hail the future of T38 sprinting at Paris 2024

Thomas Young and Sophie Hahn both hailed the competitiveness of T38 100m racing after finishing shy of the podium in Paris.

The respective defending champions missed out on medals in the Stade de France but were notably impressed by their competition, with Young already looking at what he can do to reach new heights at LA 2028.

Young (Joe McDonnell, Charnwood) was narrowly pipped to bronze by Juan Alejandro Campas Sanchez of Colombia, missing the podium by just a hundredth of a second.

The Tokyo 2020 gold medallist was notably heartbroken with his performance on the track but noted how much stronger the event has become in recent years with the USA’s Jaydin Blackwell taking the title in a new world record time.

And with his sights now set on returning to the top spot at LA 2028, the four year plan is already unfolding in Young’s mind.

“I’m gutted, it’s been my best season ever and this is just a totally horrible feeling,” said Young, who clocked a time of 11.00 for fourth in the final.

“My leg cramped up in the call room but no excuses, it just wasn’t my night. I’ve got off the track injury free, the tears will dry and I can focus on the future.

“The Americans have scouted athletes from other sports and they are doing such a good job to bring these guys in for LA.

“Beating them in LA is the ambition now, we’ve a long time to work on it so I’ll focus on getting stronger.”

Hahn (Leon Baptiste, Charnwood) noted her pride in how far her favoured event has come since she won gold at Rio and Tokyo.

Colombia’s Karen Tatiana Palomeque Moreno clocked a new world record to take the title in Paris with Hahn unable to produce the same form, finishing sixth in a time of 12.88.

“That was history, the T38 class has become so much stronger,” she said.

“Huge congratulations to the Colombian, she was incredible and I feel like if I can inspire the next generation then I can’t ask for more than that really. The future of the sport is really exciting.”

Teammate Maddie Down (Mike Bennett, Halesowen) finished eighth in her first-ever Paralympic final after setting a personal best of 12.93s in her heat to qualify.

And the 16-year-old was thrilled to have performed so well just days after she received her GCSE results.

“It feels pretty cool and a bit surreal,” she said. “I wanted to make it and I did.

“Coming in at 16, I’ve just finished my GCSE’s but it’s been a great experience and I’m still not done yet so we will just have to see what happens.”

David Weir (Jenny Archer, Weir Archer Academy) finished eighth in the men’s T54 5000m after a sprint finish left him just shy of a highly competitive field.

Weir had previously noted that his best events are still to come in the 1500m and marathon later in the Games and was happy to have shaken off the cobwebs and got some racing under his belt in Paris.

“Sometimes it takes me a good race to blow the cobwebs out and a tactical race like that which was slow, but it wasn’t super slow should help going forward.”

Zac Shaw (Leon Baptiste, Cleethorpes) finished fourth on debut in the men’s T12 100m, improving on his heat to clock a time of 10.94s while in the morning finals, Luke Nuttall (Sonia and Chris McGeorge, Charnwood) finished seventh in the men’s T46 1500m to improve on his ninth place in Tokyo.