Sammi to the fore again! Silver over 400m makes it four medals from four finals

Thursday 5th September 2024

Make that four medals from four finals!

What a Parlaympics Games it has been this week for Scottish star Samantha Kinghorn.

After two silver medals earlier in the week and then Wednesday night’s gold in the 1200m, it was back to the track in Paris for the T53 400m.

Catherine Debrunner has been unstoppable this week, too, with the notable exception of the 100m, and so it proved again over one lap. Debrunner made it four golds from five events.

 

The Swiss athlete took gold in a new Paralympic Record of 51.60 and Sammi was almost two seconds back at 53.45 seconds.

So that makes it three silver medals and one gold for the wheelchair racer from the Borders who has enjoyed such prominence this week across Channel Four and our own platforms.

‘Four from four, I definitely cannot complain about that -I am really proud of my performance tonight,’ said Sammi.

‘It is spine-tingling every time you come into this stadium; I am just so glad I get the opportunity to do this.

‘I wanted to go hard for 150m, and that’s what I did. I held her off for a little bit, but her personal best is nearly three seconds quicker than mine, so I knew it would be very difficult to be close to her.

‘I wanted to make sure my silver was firmly my silver. The Chinese were very strong and chasing close behind me.

‘I didn’t get to sleep till 3am last night, so to get a 53 second 400m is something I am really really pleased with.’

There was another final experience, too, for Melanie Woods.

After reaching both the 800m and 1500m showpieces, Mel came through her T54 400m heat on Thursday lunch-time.

Minutes after Sammi’s final, Mel was back in action too and came home in sxith place in a time of 55.33. That sixth place matched her effort in the 800m final.

‘I am a little bit disappointed with the time but realistically I feel like that is a good finish for me.’ said Mel,

‘So, when I come away from this, I will look back and think that is quite a respectable finish for me.

‘I think I am in PB shape, so I was ready to take chunks off my time, and that just didn’t come out of me today.

‘That was a mix of weather and a weeks’ worth of racing in my arms. All things considered I think I should be pretty proud.’

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Tags: Melanie Woods, Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, Samantha Kinghorn