The growing strength of parasport across the globe was brought into sharp focus in a packed Stade de France on Saturday night and, unfortunately, it was British stars who paid the price.
Thomas Young, Sophie Hahn and Paralympic legend David Weir were all the subject of chastening defeats in their marquee events as new stars from the USA and Colombia, and Kuwait too, finished ahead of them.
Three years ago Young and Hahn led a Super Saturday on the track in Tokyo as each won their T38 100m finals, with Hahn both retaining the title she had won in Rio and setting a world record in qualifying. Here, however, she finished sixth, while Young finished fourth and there could be no explaining it away; both were well beaten by athletes recording world record times.
The women’s T38 100m was won by Karen Palomeque in a time of 12.26 seconds, taking .12 of a second off Hahn’s previous best. Palomeque’s teammate, Darian Jiménez, also finished in third. The British star meanwhile could only record a time of 12.88 and faded visibly after a strong start out of the blocks.
Speaking after the race, Hahn was in tears but complimentary about her opponents. “The 38 classes have definitely moved on and the Colombians, they were absolutely incredible,” she said. “It makes the sport incredibly, incredibly exciting so huge congratulations to them. I’m pretty gutted, but I feel like if I can just inspire the next generation then that’s a win for me.”
Young had come into the Paris Games as one of the faces of the ParalympicsGB team, such was the impact of his Tokyo breakthrough which had earned him praise from Usain Bolt. But despite approaching the race in good form, he was unable to get a foothold in the race, and was well beaten in the finish with Jaydin Blackwell of the USA breaking a world record he had set only a month before in a time of 10.64.
Like Hahn, Young was unable to hide his disappointment in the result. “I’m absolutely gutted. It’s been such a good season, it’s been my best season ever up until now,” he said. “In the warmup my leg cramped up for literally two minutes so I couldn’t really finish it but no excuses, tonight was not my night.
“I know the place I’m in, I’ve got off the track injury free, it’s only cramp, that will recover. The tears will go away too and then we can focus on next year. Now I think I will try and soak up the Paralympic experience, I’ll still be in the village, and just really try and enjoy Paris even though I won’t be waking up with a medal.”
Traditionally the USA have not carried their dominance in Olympic track and field over into the Paralympics, but Young said that with the LA games of 2028 now on the horizon that is beginning to change. “The Americans have done so well with scouting athletes from other sports, Jaydin came in from American football, and they’re doing such a good job bringing in amazing talent ready for LA. 2028 is going to be unreal and I’ll be there.”
Amy Truesdale and Matt Bush wrote their names into the history books by grabbing Great Britain's maiden Paralympic taekwondo golds on a milestone evening in Paris.
Truesdale triumphed in the women's K44 +65kg event when the defending champion, Guljonoy Naimova, was dramatically stretchered out of the final. With the Briton dominating and leading 8-1, the Uzbek fighter stayed down following a kick to the throat before withdrawing from the contest.
Chester-born Truesdale [pictured] faced an anxious wait to discover her fate after her rival departed in distress. She was shown a yellow card, with officials accepting the kick to the throat was not intentional, costing her a point but securing an 8-2 victory and allowing her to celebrate success.
Welshman Bush backed up his teammate's landmark success by beating neutral athlete Aliaskhab Ramazanov 5-0 in the showpiece match of the men's K44 +80kg event at the Grand Palais. The double gold takes ParalympicsGB's total in Paris to 11, as they stay second only to China in the medal table. PA Media
Elsewhere on the track there was breakthrough success for countries who have not traditionally thrived in Paralympic competition. Ethiopia, an Olympic track giant, scored only the second Paralympic gold in their history when Tigist Mengistu won the women’s T14 1500m by half a second from Fatima El-Idrissi of Morocco. There was a similar moment of history for Namibia, who won their third ever gold medal thanks to Lahja Ishitile who won the women’s T11 400m final, a classification for visually impaired athletes, in a Paralympic record time of 56.20 seconds. Serkan Yildirim’s in the T12 men’s 100m final was Turkey’s ninth gold of all time. Britain’s Zac Shaw finished fourth in that race.
Weir finished eighth in the men’s T54 5000m race, way off the pace in a competitive and highly tactical bout of racing. There was a shock at the head of the field, however, as the dominant wheelchair racer of his generation, Marcel Hug, was beaten into second place by the American Daniel Romanchuk. Faisal Alrajehi muscled in on the action to win bronze for Kuwait, and raised both hands in delight as he crossed the line.
