James Turner, a Paralympic champion once again, has successfully defended his 400m T36 title, but what makes his achievement even more remarkable is his battle with a severe case of glandular fever. His world record performance is not just a victory on the track but a testament to his resilience.
Turner executed a flawless race, dominating the track from start to finish. He exploded off the final bend, clocking 51.54, surpassing his previous world record set at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.
In doing so, Turner not only bested his competitors—New Zealand’s Will Stedman and Argentina’s Alexis Sebastian Chavez—but also marked a significant milestone for Australian athletics, earning the country’s 500th athletics medal at the Paralympic Games.
“Well my head hurts but I’m feeling pretty bloody good!” Turner exclaimed.
“I felt decent going in the 100m but had no idea I’d broken the world record until I crossed the finish line. I had the perfect training regime and couldn’t be more proud.
“It’s been a tough year. We’ve gone through some troubles… I’d have waves of exhaustion where I could barely walk, I was stumbling around, a bit of delirium. As soon as I’d start training, I’d get worse, so we had to be really careful and come back really slowly,” Turner explained, reflecting on his battle with glandular fever.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to break a world record today. I just thought maybe, if I do everything right, I can scrape across the line first.”
Meanwhile, middle-distance star Jaryd Clifford faced heartbreak once more after being disqualified from bronze in the 5000m earlier in the week. Clifford finished fourth in the 1500m T13 by a mere one-hundredth of a second.
The three-time Paralympic medallist gave everything he had, chasing the elusive gold that has eluded him throughout his career. In the final 60 meters, Clifford battled neck-and-neck with Russian runner Anton Kuliatin, competing for the Neutral Paralympic Team. Despite his valiant effort, Clifford was narrowly edged out at the finish line, recording a season’s best of 3:44.95.
“The guys came around me and I still thought I had a chance as they didn’t kick around me super hard. But I knew when I crossed the line I had a feeling I was fourth,” Clifford said.
“The emotions? It’s almost so ridiculous that it’s funny. I get DQ in the last metre (5000m) and 0.01 from a medal. I don’t know… It’s crazy that it’s three years of work and the last metre defines all of that. It’s pretty brutal and I’m shattered.”
Clifford is determined to continue his pursuit of gold at the Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games.
After securing a bronze in the 5000m, Madison de Rozario returned to the track in the 1500m T54, finishing fifth in a race filled with drama.
During the final lap, Switzerland’s Manuela Schaer, competing in her last Paralympic race, collided with China’s reigning world champion Zhou Zhaoqian, resulting in Schaer’s disqualification. Despite the incident, the race continued to its conclusion.
“A fair bit of drama in that one again today,” De Rozario commented.
“As soon as I came out into the stadium and felt that it had started raining again, I think I knew I was in a little bit of trouble. It’s a really fine line to how you prepare.
“That didn’t work very well in my favour. I was slipping quite a bit throughout that 15 (1500). That’s fine, that’s a fault on my part. We just know that’s how it goes sometimes.”
De Rozario crossed the finish line at 3:20.32, while Swiss athlete Catherine Debrunner claimed victory with a dominant time of 3:13.10, adding to her 800m and 5000m titles at these Games.
Sixteen-year-old Telaya Blacksmith, who made an impressive Paralympic debut earlier in the competition, continued to show promise by placing eighth in the 400m T20 final.
Hailing from the remote community of Lajamanu in the Northern Territory, Blacksmith embraced the atmosphere in the stadium, finishing with a time of 59.37.
“I want to do it again and see what happens from there. It’s just amazing that I got to run in the finals…. it’s the crowd and adrenalin, it’s so much fun,” Blacksmith shared.
Although she couldn’t match her Oceania record set just days earlier, Blacksmith impressed by making up ground on the bend, though she faded slightly on the home stretch.
Concluding Australia’s Day Five performance, bronze medallist Dayna Crees achieved a personal best of 6.30m in the Shot Put F34, rounding out her first Paralympic campaign.
“My first Paralympics…I made it. I’m coming home with a bronze medal in javelin and a PB in shot put. I’m so stoked and so over the moon,” Crees said.
At the halfway point of the Paralympic athletics competition, Australia has secured six medals: one gold, one silver, and four bronze.
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