McKillop wins gold medal in fine style

Reigning double Paralympic and World champion and world record holder, Ireland’s Michael McKillop has added a European title following a commanding performance to win the final of the T38 800m at the Paralympic Athletics European Championships in Swansea, in a time of 1:58.16.

Starting in lane seven the Antrim man led from the gun but with the Russian athlete Kobesov right on his heels.

After only 200m the pair drew a clear of the field and it was evident the twenty four year old Irish athlete was not going to have it all his own way.

With Kobesov still tracking McKillop going through the bell in the Irishman made a decisive push with 350m to go to which Kobesov was not able to respond.

McKillop began to pull away and pushed hard to cross the line almost eight seconds ahead of the Russian, to a rousing reception from the Welsh crowd.

Ukraine’s Valentyn Miedviediev took bronze in 2:16.57. Speaking after the win a delighted McKillop said: “I won’t lie, that was tough, but I’m delighted to win the medal.

“The Russian is a really strong 400m runner, and I knew he’d run fifty-one seconds over that distance so it was really important for me to take it out hard or he would have outkicked me and tha’s what I did.

“I pushed on for 200m after the bell and then just got through it from there.” McKillop, who is coached by his father Paddy has only recently recovered from a lengthy period of rehabilitation following a serious foot injury.

“This is only my first 800m race of the season. It’s tough at the best of times facing into your first 800m of the season but for it to be a Championship final and only on the back of two 1500m races all season makes the win all the more satisfying.”

Following his superb showing in the T51 400m final yesterday Wheelchair racer John McCarthy finished fifth in the final of the T51 100m in a time of 26.25seconds. As with the 400m on Tuesday night the race was won by Toni Piispanen of Finland in 23:56.

Andrew Flynn debuted in the T13 5000m final and beat his personal best by eight seconds when finishing in a time of 16:47.69 for seventh place.