3rd September 2024

Kinghorn seals second silver at Paris 2024

Sammi Kinghorn was in disbelief as she stormed to a sterling second silver at Paris 2024 with a second-place finish in the Women’s T54 1500m final.

The sprinter was overjoyed to come away with a medal in a stacked field, finishing only behind Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland, who set a new Paralympic record.

Kinghorn (Rodger Harkins, Red Star) finished in a time of 3:16.01 despite briefly stopping pushing with 200m to go after confusion over how much distance was left.

“To think I was ever going to win a medal for 1500m is pretty mental,” she said. “I kind of got a bit disorientated and I stopped at 200m to go because I thought we were done – it’s so loud in here which we’re not used to.

“Who would have thought a sprinter would get a medal over 1500m, I certainly did not.

“I thought I’d be jostling for fourth, maybe squeeze a third. It was all pretty exciting.

“I learned I need to count laps. But that noise is absolutely electric and I’m absolutely buzzing to come away with a medal.”

Debrunner led the field for much of the race, but Kinghorn went with her, keeping the inside line and squeezing through a gap left by Yajuan Tian of China to move into a commanding position.

Susannah Scaroni of the USA came close to catching Kinghorn but the Melrose athlete had done enough to earn her second medal of the Games, with three opportunities still to come.

She added: “I knew she [Debrunner] would go fast and I thought I’m going to get as close to you as possible.

“The Chinese athlete came up at one point but she faltered and went into lane two so I snuck up on the inside which is sometimes a bit scary as you’re going 20mph and you’re rubbing elbows with people and thinking gosh if I fall that’s going to be quite sore but you need to go with it and see what happens.

“You really just have to put yourself out there – there’s some strong, strong athletes in there.

“To beat Susannah has blown my mind and to be able to sit on the back wheel of Catherine is incredible.”

Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Arno Mul, Red Velvet Racing) was similarly delighted to record a seventh-place finish in a time of 3:22.09.

Racing her shortest distance, she kept up with the pack as she now looks ahead to Sunday’s marathon on the road.

The 23-year-old said: “I’m really happy with it. To just finish the race for me was a big one and I’m happy with how I performed.

“1500m is not my strongest event so couldn’t really ask for much more.

“It’s been very, very difficult coming into my first Paralympic Games, having a crash and then having an incident yesterday in the heat.

“So, I feel really lucky that they made the decision to put me in the final. My head was a bit all over the place so coming in here trying to calm it down was difficult, but I think that I did the best I could.”

Melanie Woods, (Rodger Harkins, Red Star), finished in eighth place, just over a second behind Rainbow-Cooper, as she admitted tactical decisions denied her the opportunity to finish higher up the field.

Nathan Maguire (Ste Hoskins, Kirkby AC) finished fifth in his maiden T54 1500m final in Paris, overhauling two of his competitors on the home straight to clock a time of 2:53.71 and challenge for bronze.

It was a race he could be proud, coming back strong in the final 100m after he was kept back out of mix for medals due to a split second decision to draft off the USA’s Daniel Romanchuk earlier in the race.

Maguire will return to the track for the 800m later this week after having won world championship bronze in Kobe this year.

“I’m really happy with that,” he said. “I pushed well but I didn’t expect the person that I chose to draft to be so far back, I expected to be really in the mix.

“With a lap to go I saw an opening on the inside and thought I would just go for it and try.

“If I was further up maybe I could have placed a little bit higher but it’s those split second decisions that make or break you during a race.

“To come fifth in my first Paralympic 1500m final, the only way is up.”