Paralympic force James Turner is ready to sprint for global glory once more in New Delhi, chasing a golden double on Day Seven where fellow sprinter Mali Lovell and long jumper Sarah Walsh will join him in the medal hunt.
World record holder Turner (ACT, Iryna Dvoskina, T36) drops back down to today’s 100m T36 event having already secured the ultimate this championships with gold over 400m, with the Australian racing with a target on his back as the man to beat.
It will take a time well under the 12-second barrier to be crowned world champion, but Turner’s world record of 11.72-seconds which doubles as the championship record from 2019 will hold him in good stead as one of the sport’s greatest big-time performers.
Breezing through the heats in 11.94 (-1.0), the Australian set his eyes on his second gold of the week:
“I felt good, comfortable and relaxed. Let’s get ready for this final, hey?”
“It’s extremely hard to recover from the 400m. I’m not quite there at the moment, but I’m in good enough shape now to really bring home something in the final. My mindset is to have fun with it, run as well as I can, and to see what happens.”
If her 100m T36 silver was anything to go by, you can expect fireworks from 21-year-old Mali Lovell (NSW, Katie Edwards, T36) who returns to her preferred 200m T36 event today, in which she won bronze at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
Holding the Australian record at 29.64-seconds, Lovell is primed to stretch her stride and enter new territory in her final event in New Delhi:
“I’ve been working on my start a lot with my coaches, the first three steps especially. I’m hoping for another silver but we’ll see, I’m just so excited to race,” Lovell said.
With a wealth of experience under her belt, Sarah Walsh (ACT, Matt Beckenham, T64) will hit the runway for the Long Jump T64, aiming to return to the podium for the first time since 2019 having finished in fourth place at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe.
The three-time Paralympian will compete full of confidence after training partner Chad Perris roared to 100m T13 silver earlier in the program, with her career best of 5.49m still placing her in the medal conversation on her day.
The only other final featuring Australian athletes on day seven of competition is in the 100m T54 for wheelchair racers, but Luke Bailey (NSW, Fred Periac, T54) must first navigate the heats in the morning session.
Bailey rocketed to a career-best of 14.01-seconds in Switzerland earlier this year to place himself in esteemed company and agonisingly close to the sub-14 second barrier, with no greater stage to break through that than the World Para Athletics Championships.
14-year-old Lexie Brown (NSW, Zenon Kowalczyk, T47) headlines the first-round action with the 200m T47 heats, while others hitting the track include Daniel Milone (VIC, Gavin Burren, T20), and Jackson Love (NSW, Andrew Iselin, T35).
The 2025 World Para Athletics Championships are being held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, India from September 27 – October 5.
Australian viewers can tune in live and free via the Paralympic Games YouTube channel from 1:30pm AEST.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 3/10/2025
