Maria Lyle’s Paralympic results were exactly the same as Rio 2016 but the emotions totally different as she repeated her T35 sprint double with 200m bronze in Tokyo.
The Scot won her fourth Paralympic bronze medal, once again producing a season’s best when it mattered most and clocking 30.24 seconds to reach the rostrum.
It was a race in which the world record fell to China’s Zhou Xia and Australian Isis Holt in silver medal position was 2.3s ahead of Lyle in third.
“I’m really happy, I was so nervous before that race,” said the 21-year-old Scot.
“It wasn’t the best way I wanted to execute it and it doesn’t matter what time you run, it’s where you place. I’m just trying to enjoy the experience
“I was quite unhappy in Rio with my mental health and in all aspects of my life. It took time to recognise that and get it sorted.
“I’m in Tokyo and I’m loving and enjoying the experience. There’s more to life than running and I’m trying to enjoy it, at times that’s the most important thing.”
Lyle has a superb record at major events. Since the last Games, she has won medals in all ten individual races she has started across World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games.
Meanwhile, Sammi Kinghorn came within a whisker of a maiden Paralympic medal and finished fourth in the women’s T53 800m.
The 25-year-old got off to a lightning quick start and led the field at the bell but was outstripped by three rivals and missed the podium by 0.04 seconds in a season’s best time of 1:47.94.
It represented an improvement on 800m sixth in Rio and fifth at the 2017 World Championships in London.
“The 800 hasn’t been my aim, so I just wanted to give it a shot and know that I gave it my all,” said Kinghorn, who will race the 400m and 100m later in these Games.
“I’m getting faster and faster and getting more confident. There were a couple of tactical errors, but it’s good that I will learn from them. It’s just experience in this event, knowing how to hold myself and where I need to be.”
Kinghorn’s fellow Scottish wheelchair racer Melanie Woods lowered her personal best for the second time in ten hours with 1:50.40 to finish fifth in the women’s T54 800m.
In the F20 shot put, a huge new world record was set and ParalympicsGB’s Sabrina Fortune finished fifth.
Having thrown a European record of 14.05m this season, the Welsh star’s best throw was 13.56 in the sixth and final round.
And there was double ParalympicsGB representation in the men’s T54 400m, with Nathan Maguire finishing sixth and Richard Chiassaro seventh.
The only British athlete in heat action was a certain Jonnie Peacock, who comfortably qualified second from his T64 100m heat.
The two-time Paralympic champion, who clocked 10.87s, got a sense of the size of the task ahead of him as Germany’s Felix Streng won his heat with a Paralympic record.
“I’m happy to be here, I felt like in that race, I felt like me again,” he said.
“I felt I could have surged up, but like I said I had to put the breaks on and not go into gear six. The power is starting to come back, the top end is coming.”
Courtesy of ParalympicsGB
