Younger Adams sets world mark on debut
LISA Adams, the sister of Olympic champion Dame Valerie Adams, has won gold in the women’s shot put F37 at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, on her international debut.
Adams started with a world recordbreaking firstround throw of 14.70m before producing another world recordbreaking throw of 14.80m in the final round.
Adams said she was pretty overwhelmed with the result.
‘‘It’s been a hard and fast road. I’ve been training for a year and ahalf and this is my international debut. There’s a bit of confidence out there after today. I had consistency and there are goals that we’ve made for later on, and this is a steppingstone for that. I didn’t come in with breaking the world record as a goal, so that’s kind of a bonus.’’
Caitlin Dore finished seventh in the shot put F37, with a best throw of 9.50m in the final round, a PB and Otago record for the Dunedinbased thrower.
Dore said she put everything out there.
‘‘I had six consistent, good throws, so pretty stoked with the series. Discus is Tuesday night and I am raring to go. I’ve really got a feel for it now and am excited.’’
Adams and Dore will compete in the discus F38 tomorrow.
Also competing in the morning session on day three of the championships were Anna Steven, who placed seventh in the final of the 200m T64 with a time of 30.33sec, and Ben Tuimaseve, who had a best throw of 12.08m in the shot put F37 which placed him 12th overall.
‘‘It was an honour to wear the black singlet and it means something to me,’’ said Tuimaseve. ‘‘It just didn’t happen today, but what can you do but get up and move on.’’
On the track, Danielle Aitchison cruised through her heat of the 200m T36, taking first place in 30.52sec and securing a place in the final.
The World Para Athletics Championships run until Friday. A New Zealand team of 15 athletes is competing. — RNZ