Superb 3 bronze medals and several PBs for GB Team at the 1st Deaf World Championships – Izmir, Turkey
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It was an exciting time for the British team at the 1st World Deaf Championship. The competition level was high, 32 countries were set to compete in the event with a total 318 athletes. With 13 British Athletes striving for a gold medal the competition was going to be fantastic to watch.
The first day was packed with excitement and before the day was over the British team had 1 bronze medal, 1 British record and 2 Personal Bests. The Hammer event was closely contested between the British girls. Jo Davison came back from illness earlier on in the year to throw a British record of 50m 11cm and take the bronze medal, Beth Lishman, in good form also threw a PB of 46m 06cm to place 4th and was ecstatic about her performance. Beth Sewell came close to her PB with 5th place and 45m 03cm.
Other GB team members competing on the day were Dave Blackwell who contested the Shot Putt. Dave was down on his PB and placed 23rd in qualification. Nelson Bolumbu and John Ruddy qualified for the semi final of the Men’s 100m with James Schofield just missing out. Lauren Peffers qualified fastest in the 400m to go through as favourite in the 400m final. Lauren was also contesting the 1500m and 800m later in the week.
The morning of day two saw Dave Blackwell contesting the Discus and placed 19th in qualification. James Schofield was ecstatic after he qualified for the High Jump Final by equalling his PB of 1m 85cm. James was extremely pleased with his performance and was on a high for the final. Nelson Bolumbu and John Ruddy were hoping to qualify for the final of the 100m. John and Nelson narrowly missed out on qualifying for the final but both athletes had the 200m to look forward later in the week.
The afternoon session saw Lauren Peffers take the bronze medal in the 1500m. In a tightly contested race Lauren fought hard to take the bronze medal after suffering from calf problems. 25 minutes later Lauren was back on the track too run in the 400m final in which Lauren placed 4th. It was an amazing achievement after just finishing 3rd in the 1500m. Lauren unfortunately had to pull out of the 800m final later in the week, after qualifying 3rd fastest, due to ongoing calf problems.
Day 3 was exciting after all 3 British men qualified for the semi final of the 200m. The morning session also saw James Schofield contest the High Jump final and the Triple Jump qualifying round. James was torn between the two events after jumping so well in the High Jump. James cleared 1m 84cm on his first attempt but unfortunately failed to clear 1m 86cm and finished 10th. His Triple Jump was rushed and after only jumping once James failed to qualify for the final.
Day 4 was a very busy day for the British team. All 3 men were in the 200m semi finals and they were also due to compete in the 4x100m. The relay was first and after a poor changeover the British team were out of the final. 45 minutes later 3 of the team were back on the track in the 200m semi final. With very little time to recover the physio team worked hard to aid recovery and the men were ready to race again.
Heat one saw John Ruddy come 4th in what was the fastest heat of all 3 semi finals. Michael Barber ran a PB to place 7th in his heat and Nelson Bolumbu placed 3rd in his heat and qualified for the final. John was happy that he made it to the semi finals of both the 100m and 200m and Michael was extremely happy he ran a PB. The afternoon session saw Nelson back on the track in a hotly contested 200m final. Nelson placed 7th in a time of 22.94 with the winning time of 22.12. It was a very tight race.
The women’s discus also took place in the afternoon and we saw the return of Bethan Lishman and Jo Davison. Both were still on a high after competing so well in the Hammer competition on day 1. Both girls were happy with their performance and hit over the target they had set themselves. Jo placed 10th and Bethan placed 12th. What would have been and exciting competition the women’s 800m was sadly missing Lauren Peffers. Lauren had to withdraw from the competition due to an injury picked up whilst competing in the 1500m and 400m earlier in the week. Lauren was set to win another medal but sadly she was sat in the stand watching the race with disappointment.
Day 5 was an early start for all members of the team. Everyone was at the track ready to support the GB Marathon runners. Tim Stones, Serena Blackburn and Fiona Bishop were contesting the long event in the hope that a medal would be theirs. After 3 hours 26 minutes we saw Tim Stones race through the stadium to place 7th; 5 minutes later it was announced that Serena Blackburn was coming in to the stadium in 3rd place. The GB team erupted in applause and were ecstatic that the team had won another medal. Serena collapsed at the end with sheer exhaustion but was delighted with her medal and performance. Fiona Bishop came through in 5th place and was very happy with her time. All 3 Marathon runners ran exceptionally well in the heat and all enjoyed the beautiful surroundings whilst running through Izmir.
The last event for the GB team was the women’s Javelin in which Colette Doran, Silver medallist from the European Deaf Championships, was contesting the event. It was an event that was marred by a protest due to an official raising the white flag for a tailed first throw. Colette competed extremely well whilst carrying a knee injury. Training had gone very well during the week but the injury to Colette’s knee worsened throughout her time in Turkey. After 4 throws Colette was withdrawn from the competition. Final placing was 6th with a throw just over 35m. Colette, along with other members of the team, will be back next year, stronger, fitter and contesting for the gold medal at the Deaflympics in Chinese Taipai next year.
