Superb silver for Sammi in 800m final – as Melanie clocks PB
Sammi Kinghorn made it two silver medals from two finals at the Paralympics in Paris on Tuesday.
The Scot followed up her second place in the 800m final on Sunday night with a repeat podium place in the T54 1500m.
Swiss athlete Catherine Debrunner was the Paralympic champion once again – and Sammi came home in 3:16.01 for a superb silver given her strengths have usually been in shorter sprint races.
‘Who would have thought a sprinter was going to win a medal in a 1500m? I certainly did not, I thought I was looking for fourth, maybe squeeze a third place,’ she grinned.
‘It was all pretty exciting. That noise was absolutely electric, and I am buzzing to come away with a medal in the 1500m.
‘I knew she (Debrunner) was going to go fast, and I just thought ‘I am going to get as close to you as possible’.
‘The Chinese athlete came in at one point, and she kind of faltered and moved into lane two, so I snuck up the inside. It is sometimes a scary move as we are sometimes moving at 20mph, and you are rubbing elbows with people. You have to go with it and see what happens. ‘
Sammi pictured at the 800m medal ceremony (photo via Paralympics GB)
Sammi, coached by Rodger Harkins, came through the heats on Monday morning only hours after being on the 800m podium.
‘This Games is going very well,’ she said.
‘It’s hard to win a medal and put it in the drawer and push it away. I am going to have to do the same with this one as I’ve still got three races to go, so it is getting harder and harder to go to sleep each night and not think about them.
‘I’ll try and get an early night tonight to be ready for my 100m tomorrow.’
Melanie Woods was eighth in that final with 3:23.37.
‘It wasn’t my best race,’ said Mel.
‘The race on Monday was quicker, and I felt more comfortable in the heat, so for me I felt like I was chasing and not finding rhythm today which is frustrating.
‘I was out of lanes in lane two and three and I think the long way around just cost me places. I thought I would be higher up, but I am happy with chasing hard and seeing what I could do.
‘I thought this race would go out quite fast, so I knew I had to go hard from the beginning and hang on for as long as I could. It went how I thought it would.’
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Tags:
Melanie Woods, Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, Samantha Kingorn
