James Arnott believes he has done his country proud after celebrating his maiden Commonwealth Games with a silver medal on the Gold Coast.

The sprinter took second place in the T47 100m – his first race at Commonwealth level – to round off his new-found experience in style at the Carrara Stadium.

It took an exceptional run to beat him too, Suwaibidu Galadima of Nigeria stopping the clock fastest in 11.04 seconds with Arnott just behind in 11.30s.

Bronze went to Tevaughn Thomas of Jamaica with Wales’ Morgan Jones left to settle for fourth, three tenths of a second off bronze.

But for Englishman Arnott, this was a day to be celebrated for a long time yet.

Quote

It was surreal experience, all the crowd cheering. It was an amazing feeling. I think I've done my country proud.

James Arnott

“I didn’t know anyone going into the race. I couldn’t worry about other people - it was about my lane,” he said.

“We both came out and gave our best performance and he (Galadima) came out on top.

“I have a few days off now. We’ll see what antics the team wants to get up to.”

Meanwhile, a gold medal is guaranteed for England in the men’s TT6-10 table tennis singles after compatriots Kim Daybell and Ross Wilson qualified for the gold-medal match.

That came thanks to semi-final wins for each of them, London 2012 Paralympic bronze medallist Wilson overcoming Wales’ Joshua Stacey 3-1.

Eyes on the prize for Kim Daybell

While Daybell had a much closer scoreline to contend with, eventually breaking free of South Africa’s Theo Cogill in the fifth and final game.

There is still a chance for Stacey to also get his hands on silverware, facing off with Cogill in the bronze-medal contest.

England’s Felicity Pickard will also bid for bronze after missing out to Faith Obazuaye in the semi-final – now facing off with Andrea McDonnell for bronze, on Saturday.

That rounds off Saturday’s para sports action, at least in the day-time, with the final action coming on Sunday morning Australian time and Saturday late evening UK time– with Jade Jones, Nicole Emerson and Samantha Kinghorn among those competing in the marathon alongside Callum Hall, John Smith and Simon Lawson.

Share this page

Related News

World para athletics and World para swimming
Para athletics

13 June 2023

IPC announces Manchester, UK as preferred location for World Para Athletics and World Para Swimming governing bodies