Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
AWESAM!
Golden girl Kinghorn says: This is just the start
SAMMI KINGHORN grabbed GB’S final gold of a triumphant games – then admitted she is still an L-plate merchant in wheelchair racing.
The 21-year-old won gold in the T53 final in the morning, beating China’s Hongzhouan Zhou but could not repeat the trick in last night’s 800m.
Kinghorn came in fifth, with Zhou taking gold, in the two-lap final but insists she has plenty of improvement in her as she is still a novice at the sport.
The Scot drew a blank in the Paralympics in Rio last year but leaves these games with golds in the 100m and 200m plus a bronze in the 400m – and reckons there is more to come.
Kinghorn said: “I really believe this is just the start. I am only 21 – I have still not reached maturity yet.
“They reckon 28 is when we start to mature so I still have a lot of time.
“I am the youngest out there and they have been doing it longer than I have.
“Every single race I learn to hold my space a bit better and hold my line and eventually I will be just as good as them.
“It is confidence. Going to Rio and being so young, a bit nervous and naive and scared, I think, I have just learned that I am good enough to be there and I need to remember that.
“I hoped I would win one medal but to win three has been incredible. My class is strong and competitive. It is going to take months to sink in.”
Kinghorn’s was the only GB gold of the day – but there were silvers for Polly Maton in the T47 long jump, Jordan Howe in the T35 100m and Mickey Bushell in the T53 100m.
Howe, heading off for a lads’ trip to Ibiza, was winning his first global medal and reckons he owes it to new coach Christian Malcolm, the former GB sprinter, whom he hooked up with this season.
The 21-year-old said: “Christian took me on as an athlete like his son and I appreciate everything he has done for me.
“I will take silver all day long, it is my first championship medal. I have put the hours in – I trained Christmas Day and Boxing Day and watched what I ate.
“I lost a lot of weight and I believed in the team I worked with. I am going to rest now then I am going on holiday with all the boys.”
Maton jumped a personal best 5.23m with her final leap to grab silver behind American Taleah Williams while Bushell was passed at the 80m mark by serial medallist Brent Lakatos from Canada.