Awesome foursome win universal relay silver

ParalympicsGB won a second successive silver medal in the universal relay and Hollie Arnold made it back-to-back bronzes on the penultimate night of action at Stade de France.

The universal relay was introduced to the track and field programme at Tokyo 2020 and is a stunning showcase of the skills of athletes with a range of impairments.

The quartet of Zac Shaw, Jonnie Peacock, Ali Smith and Sammi Kinghorn combined for silver.

The same quartet set a new European record of 46.61s in the heats and lowered that significantly to 46.01s in the final to ensure a repeat of GB’s Tokyo result.

For Kinghorn, this was her fifth medal of an incredible championships.

“I was absolutely pumped coming out, because we get to do it with other people,” said Kinghorn. “I hit my fastest speed throughout the whole Paralympics and I think it’s because I had Ali (Smith) behind me screaming my name! It’s amazing, an incredible feeling.

“I’ve done better than I could have ever expected. It’s a week I will never, ever forget.”

Shaw won relay silver after being upgraded to individual bronze, saying, “It’s a great event and we work hard on this, we’ve done a lot of work on it.

“We had a project called ‘Project Gold’ that’s been running for over two years now and we got a silver. To win two medals, I would never have dreamed of this.”

It was a measure of redemption for Peacock after his fifth-place finish in the individual 100m.

“It’s a very nice night and the noise in that stadium was awesome,” said Peacock. “We want to go out there and do our thing and we have an amazing team behind us that have supported us all the way.”

Smith won her first Paralympic medal and less than an hour later, ran a personal best to make the final of the women’s 400m T38.

She clocked 1:01.06 to bank the third and final qualifying spot for the final.

Earlier, Arnold repeated as bronze medallist in an incredible women’s javelin F46 competition.

Arnold’s third-round throw of 40.59m was enough to reach the podium by a single centimetre with Noelle Roorda of the Netherlands finishing fourth with 40.58m.

The Welsh star won her third Paralympic medal with gold going to Venezuela’s Daniela Morillo Gill, who set a new Games record in the final round.

“The girls are incredible and I don’t think people realise how amazing the F46 women are,” said Arnold. “It has grown so much and it’s amazing to be a part of that.

“It’s not the medal I wanted, of course I wanted to come out and get that title back that I won eight years ago. But that’s sport, that’s life and it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop.

“We have to work even harder and I’m really excited for LA. It could be my last one. I’m just so grateful that we had a crowd and my family and friends were here watching.”