Switzerland’s Edith Wolf on Sunday regained her T54 5,000m Paralympic crown and Kelly Cartwright of Australia jumped to glory, as Oscar Pistorius geared up to defend the first of his three sprint titles.
The 40-year-old, who first won the race at Athens in 2004, crossed the line just ahead of Shirley Reilly of the United States and Christie Dawes of Australia, cheered on again by a near-capacity crowd of 80,000. Wolf said the support had motivated all the athletes but was still shocked at her victory.
“I was wondering if I could keep (close) to the group, but it was really good. I feel amazing,” she added. “I was surprised that I came into the final and really surprised to win.”
Cartwright, 23, broke the world record for F42 athletes in the women’s F42/44 long jump with 4.38m, which in combined class field events is converted into points.
Her score of 1,030 was good enough to beat Britain’s New Zealand-born Stef Reid, who competed for Canada in Beijing, and France’s Marie-Amelie le Fur, into silver and bronze.
“It was really tough because being in a combined class, you’ve got to look at the points, it’s not just the distance,” said Cartwright, whose right leg was amputated after she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer as a teenager.
“Some of those girls jumped so far and so well and it was pretty tough — one of the toughest competitions I’ve had.”
The two finals came before the evening session, which sees “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius go in the T44 200m, after setting a new world best of 21.30sec in Saturday’s heat.
The 25-year-old — the Games’ biggest name after he became the first double-amputee to compete in the Olympics — is the defending champion in the 100m, 200m and 400m.
Sunday’s evening session will also see Britain’s David Weir renew his rivalry with Australia’s Kurt Fearnley and the Swiss “Silver Bullet” Marcel Hug in the T54 5,000m final.
Sixty gold medals were being decided on Sunday, with a week to go until the Games come to an end.
Track cycling comes to an end at the Velodrome, with the women’s individual pursuit final for blind and visually impaired riders, the men’s equivalent race and the mixed C1-5 team sprint.
In rowing, Britain’s LTA mixed coxed fours beat rivals Germany for gold at Eton Dorney but the host nation’s gold medal hope Tom Aggar — unbeated in five years — lost his Paralympic title in the AS men’s single sculls final.
That race was won by international debutant Huang Cheng of China, who smashed Aggar’s world record in Friday’s heat. Australia’s Erik Horrie won silver and Russia’s Aleksey Chuvashev took bronze, with Aggar in fourth.
Eleven table tennis medals were being decided. Hong Kong took gold and silver in the shape of Wong Ka Man and Yeung Chi Ka in the women’s singles class 11, while China’s Feng Panfeng beat Zlatko Sler of Serbia in the men’s class 3.
Thailand’s Thainiyom Rungroj took the men’s class 6 gold, while Liu Jing gave China another gold in the women’s class 1-2. In equestrian, Belgium’s Michele George took gold in the grade IV individual championship test.
