Stage set for 'Battle of the Blade Runners'
The eight fastest amputee sprinters line up on Thursday for the
showpiece T44 100m final at the London Paralympics, amid predictions
that all finallists could run under 11sec for the first time.
The favourite for the title currently held by South Africa's Oscar
Pistorius is Britain's Jonnie Peacock, who earlier this year lowered the
single below-the-knee leg amputee world record to 10.85sec.
The 19-year-old fired a warning shot to his rivals on Thursday night,
winning his heat and equalling the Paralympic record set eight years ago
11.08sec -- then warned that he would run faster.
"It was a bad (head) wind, a big wind: 1.6m/sec. I'll be a bit
quicker in the final," he told reporters at a cold and blustery Olympic
Stadium in London.
South Africa's Pistorius was second-fastest after running a season's
best 11.18sec, with compatriot Arnu Fourie third quickest (11.29sec)
followed by the United States' Richard Browne (11.33sec) and team-mate
Blake Leeper (11.34sec).
Jerome Singleton, silver medallist in Beijing, was slowest of the
automatic qualifiers with 11.46sec. The two fastest loser spots went to
Alan Oliveira of Brazil (11.56sec) and China's Lui Zhiming, whose
11.84sec was a new Asian record.
Oliveira, 20, pulled off a shock victory over defending champion
Pistorius in the 200m on Sunday but has played down his chances in the
straight sprint, as has Pistorius.
"It's not really my event," Pistorius said last week. "As Jonnie
(Peacock) and those guys focus on the 100, my focus is on the 400, on
the complete opposite side of the spectrum when it comes to sprinting,"
he said.
Pistorius, the Games' biggest star after he became the first
double-amputee to compete at the Olympics, remains at the centre of a
row after questioning the length of his rivals' artificial running
blades in his 200m defeat.
South Africa's National Paralympic Committee has written to the
International Paralympic Committee (IPC) claiming that some athletes
swapped their blades mid-competition, which is against the rules.
Pistorius, who has had to fight to convince the authorities that his
prostheses do not give him an advantage in non-disabled races, suggested
that he was at a disadvantage because his rivals were "a lot taller" in
the 200m final. AFP |